Guidance

Factsheet: Planning committees

Published 11 March 2025

The government is committed to sustained economic growth and getting Britain building again. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is another major milestone in our reform programme.

The Bill will speed up and streamline the delivery of new homes and critical infrastructure, supporting delivery of the government’s Plan for Change milestones of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England and fast-tracking 150 planning decisions on major economic infrastructure projects by the end of this Parliament.

It will also support delivery of the government’s Clean Power 2030 target by ensuring that key clean energy projects are built as quickly as possible.

These fact sheets are designed to inform readers on:

a) the issue specific measures are solving
b) what the Bill will do
c) what this means in practice

What is the issue?

Planning committees are a critical part of the planning system but are not currently operating as effectively as possible. In England planning decisions by local planning authorities (LPAs) are the responsibility of planning committees, although they can delegate decisions to officers. Currently, each local planning authority has their own scheme of delegation which sets out which types of planning application should be determined by planning officers, and which should be determined by committee. Most planning decisions made by LPAs are made by planning officers (96%), however particularly large or contentious schemes are generally referred to the committee. 

The issues the government is seeking to addressed are as follows: 

• First, many local schemes of delegation are not sufficiently clear about whether an application will go to committee. This can cause uncertainty for developers, as the way a decision is made may not be agreed until the last minute.
• Second, too much time is spent considering applications which are compliant with the local plan, especially where the development would be on an allocated site and where there are clear policy requirements for the site in the local plan.
• Third, in some of these instances the development is rejected against officer advice only to be overturned on appeal, delaying appropriate development and wasting taxpayers’ money.
• Fourth, there can be insufficient understanding among all committee members of planning principles and law, inhibiting their ability to make decision in line with these principles and law, in turn making these decisions more vulnerable to be overturned on appeal.
• Fifth, there is a lack of transparency of the consequences of committee decisions – especially if a committee refuses an application and there is a successful appeal with costs awarded against the local planning authority.

For example, in Autumn 2021, planning permission was sought for approximately 120 residential apartments and a special school for 90 pupils on a site allocated in a local plan for residential and educational use. However, in Summer 2022, the planning committee refused permission contrary to the officer’s recommendation. Planning permission was finally granted at appeal in early 2024. These are the types of cases our reforms are seeking to tackle to unlock necessary development.

What will the Planning and Infrastructure Bill do?

The Bill will make changes to ensure that planning committees play their proper role in scrutinising development without obstructing it, whilst maximising the use of experienced professional planners. The measures proposed to reforming planning committees intend to facilitate faster decision-making on applications and ensure greater standardisation over the operation of committees, in turn providing for a more efficient service and a greater certainty to applicants. 

It is vital that while planning committees provide local democratic oversight of planning decisions, they operate as effectively as possible, focusing on those applications which require member input and not revisiting the same decisions. This government intervention, by streamlining the process for securing planning permission, will benefit planning applicants. It will also ensure that planning professionals are fully supported in their role and their skills and experience are put to best use, allowing them to resolve more applications more quickly, in service of residents and businesses.

What else are we proposing?

We will also ensure that planning committee members get the training and support they need to fulfil their duties effectively. Currently, the approach to membership training is inconsistent and varies across the country. The Bill will include a measure for all committee members across the planning system to receive training that covers at least the key principles of planning. It is unusual for a regulatory function as complex as planning to not require core training. The objective of this measure is to ensure that where members make planning decisions, they do so on proper planning grounds, in accordance with material considerations, justifiable and defensible.   

What will this mean in practice?

This measure will introduce powers to establish a national scheme of delegation, require training for planning committee members and control the size of planning committees.