Planning committee reforms: statutory consultation on draft Regulations and guidance

Overview

Planning committees play a critical role in maintaining public trust and ensuring local democratic oversight within the English planning system. Planning committees remain central to transparent, consistent, and high-quality decision making.

In the King’s Speech, the Government announced that it would modernise the way planning committees operate to best deliver for communities and support much needed development. To achieve this, the Government introduced measures through the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (the Act) to:

• give a new power to the Secretary of State to set out which planning functions should be delegated to planning officers for a decision and which should instead go to a planning committee or sub-committee
• give a new power to the Secretary of State to control the size and composition of planning committees
• impose a new requirement for members of planning committees to be trained, and certified, in key elements of planning.

The measures in the Act are enabling powers, with the detailed provisions to be set out in subsequent regulations. In May 2025, the Government launched a public consultation to seek views on what detailed provisions should be included in the regulations.

This consultation “Reform of Planning Committees: Technical Consultation” reinforced the importance of planning committees as a fundamental part of local democratic accountability. The consultation stated that planning is inherently a local activity and should reflect the views of residents and communities. However, it also highlighted that there was significant variation in how committees currently operate across England, which can create inconsistency, delay, and inefficiencies.

To address this, we have consulted on proposals to reform the way planning committees work including the introduction of a national scheme of delegation, introducing clear rules on committee size, and introducing mandatory training for committee members to ensure consistent professional standards. Our Government response to that consultation can be found [here]. In summary:

In general, respondents were in favour of the proposals for a tiered approach to the national scheme of delegation which would allocate types of applications as being always delegated to officers (Tier A), or being able to be brought to committee subject to a gateway test (Tier B)

• We received a variety of feedback on the technical issues related to Tier A and Tier B which we have reflected on in the preparation of these draft regulations
• We also received feedback on the size of planning committees, including practical points on those councils with a wide range of political representation.
• We received a range of views on the implementation of mandatory training which we will continue to consider following the implementation of reforms to the national scheme of delegation and the size of committees.

We propose to bring forward the regulations and statutory guidance for a national scheme of delegation and size of planning committees so that the reforms will be in place by the end of September.  

There is a statutory requirement to consult on both draft regulations and guidance  under section 319ZZE(6) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. This statutory consultation seeks views on the technical detail and drafting of the regulations and guidance which reflect these principles and supports LPAs in delivering planning decisions that are transparent, accountable and community focused.

Please read the consultation document for more detail on our proposals before you share your views with us.