MHCLG has now published statutory guidance on planning committees and the national scheme of delegation of planning functions.
Published on 1 June 2026, the guidance supports implementation of sections 319ZZC to 319ZZF of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, introduced by section 54 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, together with the Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026.
The Regulations come into force on 31 October 2026. From that date, local planning authorities will need to operate in accordance with the national scheme. The guidance is clear that, where an authority does not comply with the Regulations and a planning committee determines an application that should have been delegated to officers, the decision may be vulnerable to judicial review.
The objective is to create greater clarity and consistency about the role of planning committees. Committees are expected to focus on the key proposals that matter to an area, with more minor, technical and policy-compliant decisions determined by planning officers.
The national scheme is structured around two categories of application:
Schedule 1 contains functions that must be delegated to officers, unless the application is an own-interest application. This includes householder development, minor commercial development, minor residential development, most non-phased reserved matters approvals, discharge of conditions, prior approvals, permission in principle, non-material amendments, lawful development certificates, biodiversity gain plan approvals and certain section 106 modification or discharge functions connected to Schedule 1 applications. Minor residential development is defined as development comprising at least one but no more than nine dwellings on a site of less than 0.5 hectares, together with certain development relating to buildings containing flats. That means many smaller residential schemes will no longer be capable of routine committee determination.
Schedule 2 contains applications that are presumed to be delegated but may be referred to committee where the referral gateway is met. This includes planning applications that are not householder, minor commercial or minor residential applications, section 73 applications linked to Schedule 2 permissions, section 73A applications, reserved matters applications for large outline planning permissions, listed building consent, advertisement consent and TPO consent. The key point is that Schedule 2 is not a general committee category. The overriding presumption remains officer delegation. A Schedule 2 application may only be referred to committee where at least one statutory criterion is met and both the nominated officer and nominated member agree that referral is appropriate. The nominated officer is expected to be the Chief Planning Officer or equivalent. The nominated member is expected to be the chair of the planning committee, or the vice chair or equivalent where no chair exists. Where they do not agree, the application must be determined by officers.
This is a significant shift from many existing local authority constitutions. The guidance expressly states that current practices such as ward councillor call-ins or automatic committee referral once a certain number of objections is reached will not be possible where they conflict with the national scheme. Local authorities will therefore need to amend their constitutions before the Regulations come into force.
The statutory referral criteria are narrow. A case can only be considered for committee where it raises either an economic, social or environmental issue of significance to the local area, or a significant planning matter having regard to the development plan and other material considerations.
The guidance gives important direction on what is unlikely to meet that threshold. Where an application broadly complies with a detailed site allocation, other relevant local or neighbourhood plan policies and national decision-making policy in the NPPF, it is unlikely to raise a significant planning matter unless new material considerations arise.
Similarly, where an issue such as highways or flood risk was initially raised by a statutory consultee but has been resolved through amendments, that issue is unlikely to justify committee referral unless the nominated officer has compelling reasons to take a different view.
The practical direction of travel is clear. Plan-compliant schemes are expected to remain delegated. Committee referral is framed as an exception, not a default mechanism for local objection or political escalation.
The guidance also makes specific provision for own-interest applications, including applications made by the authority, members, officers or where the authority or its members or officers have an interest. These may be referred to committee where the nominated officer and nominated member agree, without needing to satisfy the Regulation 5 gateway. This reflects the transparency and propriety issues that can arise in those cases.
Reserved matters applications are treated differently depending on the scale of the outline permission. Reserved matters approvals connected to large outline permissions fall within Schedule 2, where the outline permission provides for at least 500 dwellings or 50,000 sq m of floorspace. However, even then, committee referral is not automatic and must be assessed only by reference to matters directly relevant to the reserved matters application before the authority.
Section 106 decisions are also brought within the scheme where they are connected to an application falling within Schedule 1 or Schedule 2. In practice, this means that requests or applications to modify or discharge a planning obligation will generally follow the same delegation route as the related planning application.
Local authorities will also be required to keep records of cases considered for referral to committee, the outcome of that consideration and the reasons for the decision. Those records should be reported to planning committee on a regular basis and made available on the authority’s website.
Planning committees or sub-committees discharging Schedule 2 functions will be capped at 13 members. The guidance describes this as a maximum figure, with authorities encouraged to consider whether a smaller committee would be more appropriate to support effective decision-making.
For applicants, the practical implications are significant.
The planning strategy for a proposal will need to anticipate the delegation gateway from the outset. For allocated, policy-compliant or technically resolved schemes, the route to committee should become more limited. That places greater emphasis on establishing policy compliance, resolving consultee matters early and ensuring the officer report clearly records why no significant planning matter remains.
For more locally sensitive proposals, the issue will be different. Applicants and objectors will need to focus less on general local concern and more on whether the proposal genuinely raises an economic, social or environmental issue of significance to the local area, or a significant planning matter when assessed against the development plan and material considerations.
The key issue is not simply whether fewer applications go to committee. It is where decision risk now sits. If the reforms operate as intended, more decisions will be made through officer delegation, with committee scrutiny reserved for genuinely significant cases. That may improve consistency and speed, but it will also make the quality of the application, the policy case and the management of technical issues even more important.
What emerges is a more disciplined, plan-led committee system. For developers and landowners, the strategic priority will be to reduce the scope for referral by demonstrating clear policy alignment, resolving technical objections and identifying early whether any genuine local significance issue needs to be addressed.
Planning committees and the national scheme of delegation
Last updated 1 June 2026