National Scheme of Delegation

The route to a planning decision is changing from 31 October 2026 via the National Scheme of Delegation.

Legislation

Section 319ZZC of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 gives the Secretary of State the power to set out which functions of a local planning authority should be delegated to planning officers for a decision and which should instead go to a planning committee or sub-committee.

The Secretary of State has exercised this power through the Regulations which sets out the following general approach to decision making:

• where applications fall under Schedule 1 decisions must be delegated to officers under regulation 4
• where applications fall under Schedule 2, there is a presumption under regulation 5 that decisions are delegated to officers unless the nominated officer (NO) and nominated member (NM) agree the application should be referred to a planning committee or sub-committee for determination and that it meets at least one of the criteria in regulation 5(3).
• Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 applications submitted (whether alone or jointly) by, or on behalf, of (a) the Council, (b) its elected Members, or (c) its Officers, are considered 'own-interest applications' and will also be considered by the NO and NM as to whether they should be determined by the planning committee or not.

Schedule 2 functions and referrals.

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 (gateway tests) must be met for a referral to committee to be considered to meet that threshold:

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

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

Referral Decision.

Guidance confirms the NO and NM should make every effort to reach agreement on which cases should be referred to committee. However, where agreement is not possible, the case must be determined by officers in accordance with regulation 5(2) or regulation 6(3).

Determination Level

The determination level will be set according to the relevant schedule function and any decision made by the NO and NM.  This can be seen for each application on the Public Register

There are no transitional arrangements so all live applications in the system where a decision will be made on or after 31 October 2026 will gradually be updated to reflect the new regime.

Member Referral.

Whilst a Ward Member can no longer automatically request a planning application be determined by planning committee, we have adopted a 'member referral request' process where a Member can request the NM and NO to elevate a schedule 2 application to be determined by the planning committee.

The final decision whether to elevate or not, remains with the NM and NO and gateway tests still apply.

Member referral requests (where relevant) can be seen on the Public Register for the relevant application.