Draft Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026

Parliament approved draft regulations on 8 July 2026 that will change how local planning authorities in England decide certain planning applications. The vote passed 283 to 182. The regulations, made under powers in the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, establish what the government calls a national scheme of delegation, setting out which planning applications must go before elected planning committees and which can be determined by planning officers acting under delegated powers. The practical effect is to standardise, across England, the categories of planning applications that officers can decide without those applications going to a committee of elected councillors. Under the regulations, smaller sites of nine homes or fewer fall within schedule 1 and would generally be handled by officers rather than committees. Supporters of the regulations argue this brings greater certainty to developers, particularly smaller builders working on modest sites, where delays caused by committee referrals or subsequent Planning Inspectorate appeals can make developments financially unviable. Critics argue the change reduces the scope for local elected representatives to scrutinise applications. Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs provided almost all the votes in favour, with 280 ayes between them and only 21 votes against from those benches. Every Conservative, Liberal Democrat, DUP, and Green MP who voted opposed the regulations, contributing to the 182 noes. The Conservatives had signalled before the vote that they intended to divide the committee. The debate reflects a wider pattern of votes on planning and devolution measures in recent months, with government majorities of roughly 100 holding on related divisions in April and June 2026.