The government publishes the “Planning Reform Working Paper – Planning Committees”, which “invites views” relating to planning committees …

[UPDATE: For a subsequent further consultation, please view this post.]

The government has published the following Working Paper, which "invites views" relating to planning committees:

Consultation document:

  • December 2024: Planning Reform Working Paper - Planning Committees (pdf) (link).

Notes:

  • The "Summary" at the start of the above document includes the following information:
    - "This paper invites views on models for a national scheme of delegation, which the Government has committed to introduce to support better decision making in the planning system. It proposes three possible options, designed to facilitate faster delivery of the quality homes and places that our communities need, by bringing greater standardisation over the operation of committees, in turn to give greater certainty to applicants.".
    - "In addition, the Government is interested in views on the creation of smaller targeted planning committees specifically for strategic development, as well as the introduction of a mandatory requirement for training for planning committee members.".
    - "All three reforms would require changes to primary legislation through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. A series of questions are posed at the end of the paper, to inform discussions with the sector before determining whether any of these proposals are taken forward.".
  • Note: The webpage (link) for the above consultation document includes the following information:
    - "Please note that this is not a formal consultation and is instead intended to inform discussions with the sector, to determine whether and how to take these proposals forward. Alongside these discussions, we welcome responses to the series of questions that are posed at the end of the paper. There is no formal deadline, and we will confirm next steps on these proposals in due course.".
  • UPDATE: On 13/02/2025 the government updated the webpage (link) for the above consultation document to add a deadline of 21/02/2025 for responses to be submitted.
  • UPDATE: On 13/02/2025 the government added the above consultation document to the "Collection - Planning Reform Working Papers" page (link).

Other Sources of Information:

  • [UPDATE] December 2024: Government press release - "Major overhaul of planning committees to get Britain building" (link).