Reform by Committee: MHCLG confirms National Scheme of Delegation to take effect on 31 October 2026

Half term is over. UKREiiF is firmly in the rear-view mirror. The heat-wave has broken, and MHCLG is wasting no time in pressing on with delivering on its planning reform agenda.

Just this morning, MHCLG has published:

• its response to the Planning Committee Reform consultation that closed on 23 April 2026; and
• A new set of statutory guidance, which is snappily titled: “Planning Committees and the National Scheme of Delegation of Planning Functions: Guidance for local planning authorities in England“

At the time of writing, the actual draft regulations (which will bring these reforms into effect) have not been published – but the consultation outcome page states that:

“Alongside this government response, we are laying the draft regulations for Parliamentary scrutiny and publishing the accompanying statutory guidance. The intention is that the final regulations will be made in July and come into force on 31 October 2026.”

So I would expect them to appear on the government’s list of draft statutory instruments shortly.

So, what can we glean from the consultation response and the statutory guidance? Well, let’s dive in.

What is happening and when:

First things first – let’s take a look at timescales:

• As stated above, the final draft Regulations have not been published as yet, but MHCLG has stated that the final regulations should be made in July and will then come into force on 31 October 2026.
• The statutory guidance, however, has immediate effect.

This distinction is important. As Paragraphs 9, 3 and 4 of the statutory guidance* make clear:

“9. Under the national scheme of delegation, current practices set out in local authority constitutions, such as the power for ward councillors to require cases to be called in for committee consideration or having trigger points for referral to committee if a certain number of objections is reached, will not be possible. Local authorities will need to amend their constitutions to align with the national scheme of delegation. Failure to do so may make decisions on whether to delegate applications to officers or refer them to committees for determination liable to judicial review.”

“3. As required by section 319ZZE(4) and (5) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, local planning authorities must have regard to this guidance in operating or making arrangements required under the Regulations.

4. For the avoidance of doubt, where local planning authorities do not comply with the Regulations from the date they come into force (31 October 2026) and their planning committees make decisions on applications which must be delegated officers, those decisions may be subject to judicial review by anyone aggrieved by the decision. This may lead to the quashing of the decision”.(my emphasis).

In short, whilst the Regulations may not take effect until 31 October 2026 – LPAs need to make a start on updating their constitutions to reflect the upcoming changes now – or risk running into a JR-risk that MHCLG has helpfully just highlighted to the entire plan-o-sphere in statutory guidance.

How much has changed since the consultation draft was published?

From the consultation response, and statutory guidance, is looks as of much of the national scheme of delegation remains as previously drafted.

The main changes, appear to be as follows:

• The regulations now include a duty on the Secretary of State to review the national scheme of delegation by 31 October 2028.
• Section 73 applications will now be placed in the same category as the ‘original’ application. By way of a reminder**, those categories are Schedule 1 – decisions that must be delegated; and Schedule 2 – decisions that should delegation, by default, but which can be referred to committee if certain “gateway” conditions are met.
• A new approach is being taken towards reserved matters applications:
  • Reserved matters approval applications which relate to an outline planning permission for over 500 dwellings or 50,000 square metres of non-residential floorspace will fall into Schedule 2; and
  • All other reserved matters approval applications will fall into Schedule 1 and be delegated to officers.
• The statutory guidance around the operation of the “gateway checks” has been expanded and clarified.

Is there else in particular we need to be aware of?

I am going to set out the guidance on the gateway checks below in full, as I think it is going to be important:

“21. The overriding presumption is that the applications listed in Schedule 2 will be delegated to officers. An application can be referred to a committee or sub-committee only where:

a. at least one of the criteria in regulation 5(3) is met or it is an own-interest application (regulation 6); and

b. the nominated officer and nominated member of the planning committee agree to the referral

Criteria which must be met before a case can be considered for referral under regulation 5

22. In determining whether a referral under regulation 5 is made, the presumption should be that decisions are delegated to officers and only exceptionally be referred to committee. At a minimum, at least one of the following statutory criteria must be met for a referral to committee to be considered to meet that threshold:

A. where the application raises an economic, social or environmental issue of significance to the local area

B. where the application raises a significant planning matter having regard to the development plan and any other material considerations

23. Applications for development which do not raise a significant planning matter can only be referred to the committee under criterion A if they raise a significant economic, social or environmental issue for the local area. It is for the nominated officer and member to assess whether the development proposal raises any such issue, providing an opportunity for local democratic oversight where necessary. What constitutes ‘significant’ will vary depending on the local area but examples could include:

• an application for outline planning permission for a large multi-phase residential development allocated in the local plan
• an application for planning permission for change of use of a community shop in a rural area
• an application for planning permission or listed building consent for changes to a notable listed building in a town centre

24. For the purpose of criterion B, the following circumstances are unlikely to raise a significant planning matter:

• where a specific planning matter (e.g. highways or flood risk) was initially raised by a statutory consultee as a concern, but the development proposal has been modified to make it acceptable in the view of the statutory consultee (unless the nominated officer has compelling reasons to consider otherwise)
• where the application for development broadly complies with a detailed site allocation and other relevant policies set out in a local or neighbourhood plan and national decision making policies set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. Significant planning matters may arise if new material considerations are raised by the application”

Beyond that – please remember that after 31 October 2026, there can’t be more than 13 members on a planning committee.

*deliberately quoted here out of order

**for those who don’t want to read my previous blog…