2 June 2025The government has announced that it is consulting on proposed changes to modernise local authority planning committees in England. This includes proposals to:
- Introduce a new national delegation scheme – setting out which planning functions should be delegated to planning officers for a decision, and which should go instead to a planning committee or sub committee
- Introduce a statutory maximum size for the number of members on a planning committee – with a maximum of 11 proposed
- Introduce mandatory planning training for councillors of planning committees
- Tighten ‘special measures’ powers available to the government for local planning authorities who they consider have had too many planning applications overturned at appeal
SLCC intends to respond to the consultation. If you would like to contribute to our response, please send your comments by email to Andrew Towlerton, SLCC National Planning Advisor, at [email protected] by Friday 18 July 2025.
More information about the consultation, including how to respond can be found here.
Meanwhile, the government has announced that it has delayed the date from which biodiversity net gain (BNG) will apply to nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) in England by six months – more information can be found here.
