Planning
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance he has issued on accountability where planning decisions are delegated to officers; whether planning officers will be required to publish written reasons for delegated decisions in all cases; what right (a) applicants, (b) ward councillors and (c) members of the public will have to request elected member consideration; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of democratic oversight in the new arrangements.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook
My Department has published statutory guidance setting out how the national scheme of delegation will operate, including the arrangements for referral to planning committees and transparency and reporting requirements. This can be found on gov.uk here.
An updated impact assessment was reviewed by the Regulatory Policy Committee and published alongside the final Regulations (The Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026). This can be found on gov.uk here.
My Department already publishes data on applications which are delegated to planning officers. Once the Regulations in question come into force on 31st October 2026, we will collect data on applications referred to planning committees. This information will be published alongside other national planning statistics on gov.uk here.
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