The National Scheme of Delegation: Officer Decisions from 31 October 2026

What changes on 31 October 2026

From 31 October 2026, a householder planning application in England must be decided by a planning officer, not a planning committee. The change is made by the Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/854), made on 15 July 2026 under powers inserted into the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 mainly by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025. The operative rule is short: regulation 4 requires an authority to arrange for any Schedule 1 application to be determined by an officer, and paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 is three words long — 'a householder application'.

'Householder application' carries the definition planning law already uses: development for an existing house, or within its curtilage for a purpose incidental to enjoying it, excluding changes of use and changes to the number of dwellings. A rear extension, a dormer loft conversion, most alterations to a single house sit squarely within it. Until now, who decided has been a matter for each council's own constitution, and routes such as ward-councillor call-in could pull a contested scheme in front of elected members. The statutory guidance is blunt that those practices 'will not be possible': councils must amend their constitutions to match the national scheme, and the commencement date was deliberately set to give them time to do so.

What does not change

The Regulations decide who exercises the decision, not what it is judged against. They work through the ordinary machinery of local government delegation — arrangements for who discharges a function — and say nothing about consultation, policy or planning merits. Neighbours can still comment; what closes, for householder applications, is the route by which the volume of objection could move a decision from an officer's desk to a committee room. The government's stated purpose is that committees should 'play their proper role in scrutinising development without obstructing it' while 'maximising the use of experienced professional planners'.

The Regulations change who decides, not the right of appeal: an officer refusal issued after 31 October is challenged exactly as one is today, as our guide to appealing a refused householder application sets out.

Why timing becomes more predictable

For anyone programming an extension or loft, the practical gain is certainty of route rather than any promise of speed. A committee decision means waiting for a committee cycle and accepting that elected members may take a different view from the officer who assessed the file. From 31 October a householder application has one determination route, and the question of whether a scheme will 'go to committee' falls away.

For larger, Schedule 2 applications, officer determination is still the default: a case is referred to committee only if a nominated member (the guidance says the planning committee chair) and a nominated officer (the chief planning officer or equivalent) both agree that it raises issues of economic, social or environmental significance to the local area, or other significant planning matters. Where they cannot agree, the guidance says officers must decide — and any committee that does sit is capped at 13 members. None of that machinery applies to a householder application, which — outside the exceptions below — never enters the referral gate.

The exceptions, honestly stated

There are genuine exceptions, and the clearest matters in conservation-heavy London: a householder application that the authority considers connected with a listed building consent application falls within Schedule 2, not Schedule 1, and can still be referred to committee. If your house is listed and you apply for both consents together, the officer-only rule will normally not apply, because the council can treat the applications as connected.

Two further edges. Where the applicant is the council itself, one of its councillors or one of its officers, the application is an 'own-interest' case: decided by an officer by default, but the nominated member and officer may agree to refer it to committee, with no significance test attached. And a retrospective application — regularising work already carried out — appears to remain capable of reaching committee; treat that as probable rather than settled.

One point the instrument does not answer in terms is applications already in the system on 31 October. The Regulations contain no transitional provision; the natural reading — reinforced by the guidance's warning that decisions made in breach of the Regulations from that date may be open to judicial review — is that the new arrangements govern any decision made on or after 31 October, whenever the application was submitted. That is a reading rather than a stated rule, so if you have an application in flight this autumn, ask your case officer how the authority will handle it.

Beyond the householder application

Schedule 1 reaches well past householder work: officer determination also becomes mandatory for minor residential schemes of one to nine dwellings on sites under half a hectare, lawful development certificates, prior approval applications, non-material amendments, condition discharge and most reserved matters. Listed building consent and anything larger remain committee-capable through the referral test above. There is a built-in check, too: the Secretary of State must review the Regulations and publish conclusions by 31 October 2028.

What to take from it

Our honest reading is that this is useful news for most householders. The case for an extension or loft has always been won or lost on what planning officers assess — policy, neighbour amenity, character — and from 31 October that assessment is, for nearly all householder schemes, the whole of the decision. Designing and evidencing for the officer's desk was already the sensible strategy; it now has a national scheme behind it.

If you want the consent route, the risks and a realistic programme set out before committing to a full planning application, that is what a £395 route review is for. The position above reflects the Regulations as made on 15 July 2026 and the accompanying statutory guidance, and was current on 31 August 2026; the guidance may yet be refined around commencement, so if you are reading later, confirm the position then in force.