From 31 October 2026
New rules for Planning Committees What is changing: A new National Scheme of Delegation will come into force at the end of October, replacing councils’ local schemes across England. Planning officers will decide more applications, with fewer referrals to committee.
Planning applications will fall into two schedules: Schedule 1 Applications in this category will always be decided by local planning authority officers, with no route to committee. They include: Householder applications; minor commercial schemes; residential schemes of up to nine homes on sites under 0.5 hectares; reserved matters approvals, except for large schemes; applications to discharge conditions; prior approvals applications under permitted development rights; permission in principle; certificates of lawfulness; and biodiversity gain plans.
Other changes •
Planning committees limited to 13 members.
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Councils must record, report and publish referral reasons.
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Non-compliance from 31 October may risk judicial review.
Schedule 2 These applications will normally be decided by officers and referred only in exceptional circumstances, including significant local economic, social, environmental or planning issues, or where the council is the applicant. Both the chief planning officer and committee chair must approve a referral; otherwise, the decision remains delegated. This category includes major, listed building, retrospective and advertisement applications, and consent relating to tree preservation orders.
There will no longer be •
Referrals of application to committee by ward councillors
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Automatic referrals when the number of objections exceeds a set threshold
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Referrals to committee by parish councils