How the National Scheme of Delegation will change decision making in the Thames Valley

By David Bainbridge, a director for Savills Central Planning:

The planning system operates on a ‘plan-led’ basis, meaning that development plans – including local plans – must be prepared and kept up-to-date.

Planning applications and appeals are determined in accordance with the policies set out in these plans, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

Now, in its quest to refine the system to support new homes delivery the Government has introduced a National Scheme of Delegation of Planning Functions and associated rules on the size of planning committees, which is due to come into force in England on 31 October 2026.

The changes are intended to bring greater consistency to local decision making and reduce the number of applications being unnecessarily considered by planning committees.

The central aim is to provide greater clarity on which planning decisions should be taken by officers and which should be considered by elected members.

These amendments represent a fundamental shift in how local planning authorities (LPAs) structure decision making and should result in significantly fewer applications being determined by planning committee. In turn this should allow elected members more time to scrutinise the most important proposals within their area.

The new regulations cap the size of a planning committee or sub-committee at 13 members and LPAs are further encouraged to consider whether a smaller committee would support better and more effective decision making.

Once they come into force, LPAs that fail to comply with the new regulations risk legal challenge, for example, where a planning committee determines an application that should have been delegated to officers.

LPAs in the Thames Valley will need to review and, where necessary, amend their constitutions in advance of the new regulations taking effect.

This is particularly relevant following the Chancellor’s announcement earlier this month of three ‘critical’ OxCam developments (https://ukpropertyforums.com/chancellor-announces-three-critical-oxcam-developments/) – intended to see more growth delivered.

The Government’s plans for devolution are slowly emerging and set to focus local governance through the creation of new combined strategic authorities, while current local authorities are reduced in number in favour of unitary authorities. It is expected that these changes will deliver cost savings through economies of scale.

Back in February the Government announced the establishment of a new Development Corporation in Greater Cambridge, with the powers and certainty to deliver infrastructure-first growth at scale.  It is expected that the same will be announced shortly for Greater Oxford.  The new national scheme of delegation and reduced planning committee sizes does not apply to Development Corporations, but no doubt they will have in mind the Government’s intention to speed up and improve the consistency of decision making across the Thames Valley.