MHCLG consults on national scheme of delegation, planning committee reform and making life easier for SMEs

It is shaping up to be a consultation heavy week.

Hot on the heels of Sunday's consultation on measures to speed-up build-out rates on sites; This morning MHCLG has launched:

• The Reform of planning committees: technical consultation which closes on 23 July 2025; and
• A Planning Reform Working Paper: Reforming Site Thresholds which is inviting responses by 9 July 2025.

The working paper also mentions a DEFRA consultation on BNG, which is expected imminently, but this has not been launched at time of writing - so it is not covered beyond what is mentioned in the working paper. 

The Reform of planning committees: technical consultation 

The reform of planning committees technical consultation relates to the key planning elements of the Planning & Infrastructure Bill, which is currently winding its way through parliament. 

It covers:

• The proposed national scheme of delegation
• Proposed changes to the size and composition of planning committees; 
• Mandatory training for planning committee members; and 
• Changes to the performance thresholds for quality of decision-making criteria

Taking each of these elements in turn:

National Scheme of Delegation

The government is proposing to introduce a national scheme of delegation that classifies all planning application into two categories:

The current plan is to define the categories as follows, although views are sought on these definitions:

Tier A: mandatory officer delegation 

• applications for planning permission for:
  • Householder development
  • Minor commercial development
  • Minor residential development (up to 9 dwellings)
• applications for reserved matter approvals
• applications for s96A non-material amendments to planning permissions
• applications for the approval of conditions
• applications for approval of the BNG Plan
• applications for approval of prior approval (for permitted development rights)
• applications for Lawful Development Certificates
• applications for a Certificate of Appropriate Alternative Development

Tier B: Optional officer delegation 

The intention for Tier B is that there is, in essence, a rebuttable presumption of delegation.  Each application would be assessed (via a “gateway check”) by the Chief Planner and Planning Committee Chair to see if should be taken to committee or not. 

The consultation is seeking views on what the basis of that assessment should be, whilst proposing the following options:

• committee consideration where the application raises an economic, social or environmental issue of significance to the local area; or
• committee consideration where the application raises a significant planning matter having regard to the development plan

MHCLG are also inviting views on which category the following matters should be placed in:

• special control applications - i.e. tree preservation orders, listed building consent, advertisement control etc.
• planning enforcement functions; 
• s.106 agreement approval and variation (although here MHCLG are proposing that the decision on the s.106 Agreement should follow the same categorisation as the related planning application); and
• applications for “medium development” - assuming the proposals in the working paper (see below) are taken forward. 

Size and Composition of Planning Committees

MHCLG have decided not to take forward their proposal for mandatory strategic development planning committees - as this was not well supported in the responses to the previous working paper on the topic. 

They are, however proposing to set limits on the overall size of planning committees once the PIB becomes law. The current intention is to:

• set a maximum committee size of 11 members; and 
• use statutory guidance to make it clear that committees can be smaller, if that works better locally. 

Mandatory Training 

The provisions on mandatory training are perhaps a little less well-formed than the other proposals - as the government wants to engage further with the sector on its precise content after the spending review. 

However, the consultation is seeking views on whether member certification should be dealt with via:

• a national certification scheme which would be procured by MHCLG and involve an online test for certification; or
• a local based approach where the local planning authority provides certification

With MHCLG's preference being for a national certification scheme. 

Performance Criteria

The consultation also, somewhat sneakily, as this isn't technically PIB related, seeks views on a proposal to reduce the “special measures” threshold for quality of decision-making. 

Currently, an LPA can fail this performance target if more than 10% of its planning decisions are overturned at appeal.  The consultation proposes to cut this threshold in half. 

If this is taken forward, an LPA could fail the quality of decision-making target if more than 5% of its planning decisions were overturned at Appeal. 

Planning Reform Working Paper: Reforming Site Thresholds 

Thankfully, the working paper can be dealt with more briefly than the technical consultation that accompanies it. As, frankly, this blog post is getting a little long. 

The thrust of the proposals is as follows:

The government is proposing to introduce two new categories of development.

• “very small sites” - those less than 0.1 hectare in size; and 
• “medium development” which would capture sites of between 10 and 49 homes and/or sites that are up to 1.0 hectare in size.

The current threshold for minor development (of less than 10 dwellings or up to 0.5 hectares in size) would remain in place.  Major development would be re-defined to mean sites of 50 or more homes, or more than 1 hectare in size.

The policy requirements for each category of development would then be adjusted, so they were more proportionate to the scale of development in each category.

The working paper currently proposes:

Very Small Sites

In addition to the proposals for minor development (set out below), MHCLG is considering the following additional measures for very small sites:

• providing template design codes that can be used locally for different site size threshold and typologies; and
• using digital tools to support site finding and checking compliance of design requirements on specific sites

There is also a discussion in the working paper of using NDMPs to make approvals on very small sites easier, but the detail on this is being saved for the national development management policy consultation, which will follow later in the year. 

Minor Development 

For minor development, the working paper proposes:

• streamlining requirements on Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) including the option of a full exemption – aligning with the proportionate approach taken to wider requirements including affordable housing. 
• retaining the position that affordable housing contributions are not required on minor development – other than in limited circumstances where this is justified such as in Designated Rural Areas.
• retaining the position that sites of fewer than 10 units are exempt from paying the proposed Building Safety Levy (BSL). 
• retaining the shorter statutory timeframe for determining minor development at 8 weeks
• reducing validation requirements – through setting clearer expectations in national policy on what is reasonable, which could form part of the forthcoming consultation on national policies for development management.
• requiring that all schemes of this size are delegated to officers and not put to planning committees as part of the National Scheme of Delegation; and 
• reviewing requirements for schemes of this size for consultation with statutory consultees – instead making use of proportionate guidance on relevant areas. This forms part of our review of statutory consultees.

Somewhat awkwardly, the working paper cross-refers to a DEFRA consultation on BNG thresholds, which does not appear to be open just yet*. So we will have to wait to get into the detail of what “streamlining the approach to BNG actually means”. 

Medium Development 

For medium developments, the working paper proposes:

• simplifying BNG requirements – reducing administrative and financial burdens for SME developers and making it easier for them to deliver BNG to help restore nature on medium sites by consulting on applying a revised simplified metric for medium sites. 
• exploring exempting medium sites from the proposed Building Safety Levy 
• exempting medium sites from build out transparency proposals (see Sunday's consultation for more details on these proposals)
• maintaining a 13-week statutory time period for determination - but specifically tracking performance of these types of developments directly so SMEs can expect a better service
• including the delegation of some of these developments to officers as part of the National Scheme of Delegation
• ensuring referrals to statutory consultees are proportionate and rely on general guidance which is readily available on-line wherever possible. 
• uplifting the Permission in Principle threshold 
• minimising validation and statutory information requirements – through setting clearer expectations in national policy which could form part of the forthcoming consultation on national policies for development management

Major Development 

Major developments would largely remain in the system as it is, although the working paper is also seeking views on:

• applying a threshold for mixed tenure requirements on larger sites MHCLG is considering setting a threshold over which a development must be a mixed tenure development – including at 500 units. 

Other proposals in the working paper

The working paper also includes

• a call for evidence on the difficulties the current s.106 regime cause for SMEs (in particular the lack of RP interest, viability reviews, and the role of agreeing commuted sums); and 
• a call for views on how the new category of “medium development” could apply to commercial developments and what this might look like, when it comes to easing burdens on developers

Conclusion

There is a lot to like in both the consultation and the working paper. Whilst the granular detail will need to be worked through, it looks as if MHCLG have listened to previous concerns are paying close attention to both:

•  ensuring that the new PIB planning measures will be workable; and
• burdens are lifted on SMEs and smaller development sites

Unfortunately, we will need to wait for the DEFRA consultation on revisions to the BNG regime to be published before we can see the full extent of the proposals - but then, I guess you can't have everything….

*this may have changed by the time you are reading this