Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether their plans for a national scheme of delegation as referenced in documents accompanying the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will consist of guidance to local authorities or whether local authorities will be required to follow the scheme.

Our proposals to introduce a national scheme of delegation through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill would be mandatory for local planning authorities as defined in the Bill.

As set out in the technical consultation on reform of planning committees published on 28 May 2025, all applications in Tier A would be delegated to planning officers.

However, Question 5 asks for views on whether there should be a mechanism to bring a Tier A application to committee in exceptional circumstances and, if so, what would those circumstances be and how would the mechanism operate.

Applications in Tier B would be presumed to be delegated unless the chief planning officer (or equivalent officer in local planning authorities without a chief planning officer) and Chair of Committee agree it should go to Committee based on a gateway test.

The consultation is open for views until 23 July 2025.