New national rules will change how planning applications are decided in England from 31 October 2026, with a greater emphasis on decisions by planning officers and a more limited role for planning committees which will be a welcome change for many applicants. From this date, which applications go to committee or are determined by officers will become a matter of national law (in England only).
The national scheme of delegation replaces those local schemes with a single set of rules for the whole of England. Section 54 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 inserted sections 319ZZC to 319ZZF into the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, giving the Secretary of State power to say which functions must be delegated to officers, and which may go to a committee.
That power has been exercised through the Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026. The National Scheme of Delegation for Planning Functions introduces a consistent framework for determining which applications must be decided by officers and those that may be considered by elected councillors. A Council that gets it wrong could have their decisions quashed via judicial review.
One of the most significant changes is the restriction of existing arrangements that allow councillors to request committee consideration. The number of public objections alone will no longer be sufficient to secure a committee decision, so this removes objection-based triggers. Instead, applications must meet the national criteria for referral.
Residents will still be able to submit comments on planning applications, but objections will not automatically result in an application being debated by elected councillors.
What are the key changes?
The new rules divide planning applications into two main categories:
Schedule 1: Certain applications must be determined by planning officers rather than planning committees. These include householder applications, minor residential (up to nine dwellings and prior approvals) and commercial developments, applications to discharge planning conditions, and non-material amendments.
Schedule 2: Other applications may be considered by a planning committee, but only where specific criteria are met – a gateway test. These include certain larger developments and specified listed building and advertisement consent applications.
An application only counts as Schedule 1 if it is not also a Schedule 2 application.
On this basis a minor residential application that the Council considers connected with a listed building consent application is pulled into Schedule 2, and becomes referable, even though minor residential is otherwise a must-delegate. Small schemes touching listed buildings can therefore still reach a planning committee.
For applications within Schedule 2, referral to committee requires agreement between the nominated planning officer and nominated councillor. The application must also raise a significant local economic, social or environmental issue, or another significant planning matter.
The reforms are intended to allow planning committees to concentrate on proposals with the greatest strategic or local significance, while enabling routine and technical applications to be dealt with by planning officers. The new rules also limit planning committees and sub-committees to a maximum of 13 members.
What does this mean for applicants and residents?
For applicants and developers, the changes could provide greater clarity about how planning decisions will be made. For residents, fewer applications are likely to be considered at public planning committee meetings – in simple terms, the days of approaching your local ward member to pull a planning application into committee will end and the automatic sending to committee due to a large number of objections, will also end.
Local planning authorities must ensure their procedures comply with the new rules from 31 October 2026.
The key takeaway: The new scheme represents a significant shift towards officer-led planning decisions, with elected-member committees focusing on a narrower range of applications that meet specific national criteria and represents a huge change to the determination of applications along with a number of other changes, at National level, so far in 2026.