More details have been published of the government’s plans to delegate greater powers to council officers to determine planning applications.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has launched a short consultation until 23 April on draft regulations and guidance for the national scheme of delegation.

Under the proposals, there will be a two tier system for planning decisions:

Schedule 1: Applications that will always be delegated to officers and not considered by planning committee

Schedule 2: Applications that will be delegated to officers by default unless a nominated officer and nominated member – expected to be chief planner and the planning committee chair – decide that applications should be determined by committee.

Under Schedule 2, there is to be a ‘gateway test’ with criteria for decisions to be referred to committee, including if the proposal raises ‘one or more issues of economic, social or environmental significance to the local area’ or ‘one or more significant planning matters having regard to the development plan and any other material consideration’.

It is important that there is clarity about what this will mean in practice to ensure consistency within and between planning authorities.

Protocols for the nominated officer and member must be clear along with dispute resolution in the case of conflict over whether an application goes to committee or not.  Equally, for the new system to be credible, there must be transparency about why an application was referred or not.

Schedule 1 includes:

• Householder applications
• Minor commercial applications
• Minor residential applications
• Reserved matters applications (unphased)
• Applications for the approval of conditions
• Applications for approval of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Plan
• Applications for Permission in Principle

Schedule 2 includes:

• Applications for listed building consent or to vary a listed building consent
• Section 73 applications for removal or variation of conditions
• Reserved matters applications for phased development
• Tree preservation orders

The draft has also set a maximum planning committee size of 13 members – up from the 11 originally proposed.

The other key change in the new legislation is to place reserved matters applications for phased development in Schedule 2.

It is important to note that just because matters may fall into Schedule 2, this does not mean that they will always go to committee.

Indeed, the government says that there would be a strong expectation that the vast majority of phased reserved matters applications would be delegated.

Measures to streamline and improve the planning system are always welcome but must not result in greater conflict, unnecessary delay or cost.

The government is seeking to lay the regulations before Parliament later in the Spring and aims to bring them into force from 30 September onwards.

We will keep you updated about progress and please don’t hesitate to get in touch to find out how these changes will affect your plan or project.

ENDS