Consultation on National Scheme of Delegation & Committee Reforms

On 26^th March 2026, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published draft regulations and guidance for the proposed reform of planning committees in England, including the introduction of a new National Scheme of Delegation and rules on committee sizes. These changes seek to address the significant variation in how planning committees currently operate across England, to ensure “greater clarity and consistency about the role of planning committees in planning decision making”. The draft regulations are now the subject of a short (four-week) consultation.

The new National Scheme of Delegation would instead seek to place applications in two ‘schedules’, with the presumption being that decisions on planning applications are predominantly delegated to planning officers and only exceptionally referred to a planning committee. The two schedules are as follows:

Schedule 1 (Tier A) covers applications that would, in all circumstances, be allocated to planning officers for a decision. This would include applications for planning permission for householder, minor residential and minor commercial developments, as well as a number of supplementary and technical consents such as discharge of conditions, reserved matter approvals (for non-phased development), lawful development certificates, and non-material amendments.

Schedule 2 (Tier B) covers applications that are presumed to be allocated to planning officers for a decision, unless certain criteria are met. These criteria include other applications for planning permission not in Schedule 1, as well as reserved matters approvals for phased development, variations of permissions, and special controls such as listed building and tree preservation order consents.

Schedule 2 applications would be decided at planning committee where:

• they meet at least one of the criteria set out in regulation 5(2); or

• they are an application made by or on behalf of a local authority, a member or officer of that local authority or an entity owned or controlled (whether wholly or partly) by that authority or any of  its members or officers (whether or not it is made jointly with another person) (regulation 6);

• and the nominated officer and nominated member of the planning committee agree they should be referred to a planning committee or sub-committee for determination.

The criteria in regulation 5(2) include raising (a) one or more issues of economic, social, or environmental significance to the local area, or (b) one or more significant planning matters having regard to the development plan and any other material considerations, with these criteria therefore providing significant opportunity for larger or more contentious schemes to continue to be determined by planning committee.

Other Changes

As part of the National Scheme of Delegation, current local practices such as powers for councillors to call-in application to committee, or trigger points where a certain number of objections are reached, would no longer be possible. The regulations also set a maximum number of 13 planning committee members but asks Councils to consider whether a smaller number of members would be more appropriate to support effective decision making.

Summary

The consultation will last for four weeks closing on 23rd April 2026, with the regulations expected to come into force from 30th September 2026. We will continue to monitor this on behalf our clients. If you have any questions in relation to how these proposals may impact your current or upcoming planning applications, or would like our help in preparing a consultation response, please contact the Firstplan team at info@firstplan.co.uk.

The Draft Regulations and Guidance and Consultation can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-committee-reform-draft-regulations-and-guidance

Article prepared by: Amy Murray