The Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026 were made on 15 July 2026 and will come into force on 31 October 2026. The instrument, made by the Secretary of State under sections 319ZZC to 319ZZE of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, sets a national framework for how specified planning functions must be discharged by local planning authorities in England. Although the Regulations extend to England and Wales, the text states that they apply only in relation to England. The statutory route is also notable: the instrument records that the Secretary of State consulted as required and that a draft was approved by both Houses of Parliament before being made.
The main policy change is a firmer national presumption in favour of officer determination for defined categories of planning work. Regulation 4 requires every relevant local planning authority to put arrangements in place so that any Schedule 1 application is determined by an officer. Regulation 2 goes further by stating that, where an application is to be determined by an officer under these arrangements, the authority must not impose arrangements that limit that officer's discretion on the outcome. The Regulations also account for shared service models. Where one authority determines applications on behalf of another under section 101 of the Local Government Act 1972, the instrument treats the receiving authority as the decision-maker for these purposes. Where authorities discharge functions jointly, references to committees and officers are read broadly enough to cover joint committees and officers across the participating authorities.
Schedule 1 contains the application types that must go to officers unless another rule displaces that position. The list includes householder applications, minor commercial applications and minor residential applications, including schemes of between one and nine dwellings on sites below 0.5 hectares. It also covers permission in principle cases, non-material amendment applications under section 96A, certificates of lawfulness, biodiversity gain plans, applications made under planning conditions, prior approval and prior approval screening requests under permitted development rights, and reserved matters approvals linked to outline permissions other than large outline permissions. The Schedule also reaches beyond the initial grant of permission. Section 73 applications tied back to an original Schedule 1 permission fall within the officer route, as do certain section 106A requests and applications to modify or discharge planning obligations where the authority considers them connected with a Schedule 1 approval. Taken together, the drafting moves a large share of routine and follow-on development management work into the delegated tier.
Schedule 2 deals with the cases that may still reach committee, but only through a defined referral gateway. The list includes listed building consent, applications to vary or discharge listed building consent conditions, related planning applications, full planning applications that are not householder, minor commercial or minor residential matters, retrospective section 73A applications, reserved matters on large outline permissions, section 106A cases connected with Schedule 2 approvals, advertisement consent and tree preservation order consent. Under regulation 5, these applications do not go automatically to committee. They must be determined by an officer unless the authority's nominated member and nominated officer agree to a referral. The statutory test is whether, in their view, the case raises issues of economic, social or environmental significance to the local area, or significant planning matters when assessed against the development plan and other material considerations. In reaching that view, both must have regard to any relevant guidance issued by the Secretary of State.
Regulation 6 creates a separate route for own-interest applications. This covers Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 cases made by or on behalf of the authority itself, by one of its members, or by one of its officers. It also covers cases where the nominated member and nominated officer consider that the authority, or any of its members or officers, otherwise has an interest in the application. The mechanism still starts from delegation. An own-interest application must be determined by an officer unless the nominated member and nominated officer agree that it should be referred to committee. The Explanatory Note states that regulation 5 does not apply in those circumstances, so cases involving the authority's own interests are channelled through regulation 6 instead. For governance teams, that places conflict management inside the new referral structure rather than outside it.
Where a case is referred, regulation 7 imposes a clear structural limit: any committee determining an application under regulations 5 or 6 must not have more than 13 members. Authorities with larger planning committees will therefore need to check whether their constitutional arrangements, membership structures or sub-committee models comply before 31 October 2026. The instrument also builds in a formal review point. Regulation 8 requires the Secretary of State, by 31 October 2028, to review the Regulations and publish a report. That review must set out the objectives of the regime, assess whether they have been achieved, consider whether they remain appropriate and state any proposals for amendment. The legislation therefore creates a statutory checkpoint two years after commencement.
In practical terms, the Regulations point to fewer default committee decisions and a stronger expectation that many applications will be handled under officer delegation. Local planning authorities will need to nominate the member and officer roles required by regulation 3, which permits different appointees for different purposes and substitute nominees, revise schemes of delegation, align referral procedures with any Secretary of State guidance and ensure that officers exercising delegated powers are not subject to arrangements that fetter their discretion. For applicants, objectors and ward members, the main change is procedural rather than substantive. The planning merits tests remain those set by the wider planning code, but the route to a public committee hearing becomes narrower and more structured. For councils, the immediate task is to make the constitutional and administrative changes needed so that referrals, own-interest handling and committee composition are lawful from 31 October 2026.