Chief Planning Officer warns councils to act ahead of 31 October deadline for planning committee changes

The warning from Joanna Averley came in an update to chief planning officers on planning committees, biodiversity net gain and planning fees that outlines forthcoming changes impacting local planning authorities.

In relation to committees, she drew attention to The Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026, which will limit the maximum size of a planning committee to 13 members.

The regulations, coming into force on 31 October 2026, also clarify which types of planning applications must be delegated to officers in all circumstances, and which types of planning applications are presumed to be delegated, but could go to committee subject to passing a gateway test, agreed by the nominated officer and the nominated member.

Averley said: “Local planning authorities must take action to comply with the regulations in advance of [31 October], including amending their constitutions to reflect the position of the regulations where necessary.”

The Chief Planner also drew attention to forthcoming changes to Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG).

The Biodiversity Gain (Town and Country Planning) (Amendments and Transitional Provisions) (England) Regulations 2026 will:

• introduce a new exemption for development on sites below 0.2 hectares, meaning the smallest developments will not be required to deliver mandatory BNG;
• introduce a new exemption for temporary development which is five years or less;
• remove the existing exemption for self and custom build development; and
• modify the biodiversity gain hierarchy for minor development, so that minor developments which remain subject to BNG can choose to go straight to off-site gains in the first instance.

The changes will come into force from 6 August 2026.

Averley said: “Planning Practice Guidance will be updated to provide further information to support implementation of these changes. Local planning authorities should continue to determine applications in line with the existing statutory framework and currently published guidance until the new provisions come into force.

“Further practical support is available through the Planning Advisory Service’s BNG network, which provides a forum to share learning and discuss practical implementation issues.”

Turning to planning fees, the Chief Planner noted that on 16 July, the Government laid regulations to increase planning application fees and published its response to the consultation on planning fees and local fee setting.

She added: “Subject to Parliamentary approval, the new fees will apply from 8 December 2026. The new fees are expected to achieve around 90% cost recovery nationally, providing a substantial uplift in funding for planning services.”

The draft regulations can be viewed here.

Lottie Winson