From 31 October 2026, England’s planning system is due to operate under a national scheme of delegation for planning functions. Introduced by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 and implemented through the Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026, the scheme is intended to reduce local variation in how planning applications are allocated between officers and planning committees.
For developers, the scheme’s intention is to make the route to decision more predictable in many cases by reducing the scope for committee referral, ward member call-in or objection-number triggers. The practical question at the outset of an application will become: is this a mandatory officer decision, a delegated-by-default decision, or one of the limited cases that can or should go to committee?
Mandatory Officer Decisions: Schedule 1
Schedule 1 of the 2026 Regulations identifies categories of application that must be determined by officers. These include, in broad terms, householder applications, minor residential development below 10 dwellings on sites of less than 0.5 hectares, certain minor commercial applications, permission in principle, non-material amendments, certificates of lawfulness, discharge of conditions, biodiversity gain plans and some reserved matters approvals where they are not linked to a large phased outline permission.
Delegated by Default: Schedule 2
Schedule 2 contains applications that are presumed to be determined by officers but may be referred to committee where the statutory gateway is met. Examples include section 73 applications, certain section 73A applications, reserved matters approvals linked to large outline permissions, listed building consent, advertisement consent and applications involving tree preservation orders. Referral will require a more disciplined justification than under many current local schemes: the application must raise a significant local economic, social or environmental issue, or a significant planning matter having regard to the development plan and other material considerations.
What This Means for Developers
The reforms should, in principle, help developers by reducing uncertainty about whether an application will be diverted to committee late in the process. Routine and technical applications are more likely to remain with officers.
However, the reforms will not remove the need for careful application management. For Schedule 2 proposals, developers should assume that committee referral will still be possible where there is a “significant local, economic or social issue” or a “significant planning matter”. As these terms are not defined, some uncertainty may arise over their use.
Early engagement with officers, clear planning statements and a well-evidenced assessment against the development plan will therefore remain important. Include an assessment in applications on whether the proposal does, or does not, raise a significant local issue.
The statutory guidance also warns that, once the regime is in force, a committee decision on an application that should have been delegated may be vulnerable to judicial review and quashing. That risk may give developers a further reason to scrutinise how the authority has categorised the application and whether any committee referral is justified.
If this is something you need assistance with please get in contact with our Planning team.