[UPDATE: For the subsequent legislation relating to this consultation, please view this post.]

The government has published the following response to the consultation titled "Planning committee reform - statutory consultation on draft Regulations and guidance" (which ran for 4 weeks from 26/03/2026 until 23/04/2026):

Response document:

• June 2026: Planning committee reform - statutory consultation on draft regulations and guidance - government response (link) (pdf print version of HTML webpage).

Notes:

• The "Introduction" at the start of the above response document includes the following information:
  - "Planning committees play a critical role in maintaining public trust and ensuring local democratic oversight within the English planning system. Planning committees remain central to transparent, consistent, and high-quality decision making.".
  - "Following the introduction of measures in the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 to ensure planning committees can operate more effectively, as required by the Act, the government consulted on the draft regulations and associated guidance needed to implement the national scheme of delegation and limit of the size of planning committees. The consultation, which ran from 26 March to 23 April 2026, sought views on the technical detail and drafting of the regulations and guidance.".
  - "This document provides a summary of the views received in response to the consultation proposals and sets out the government’s next steps.".
• The "Next steps" section at the end of the above response document includes the following information:
  - "Alongside this government response, we are laying the draft regulations for Parliamentary scrutiny and publishing the accompanying statutory guidance. The intention is that the final regulations will be made in July and come into force on 31 October 2026.".
  - "The government continues to recognise the importance of effective training for planning committee members and once the regulations have cleared the final Parliamentary stage, we will resume work to take forward our powers from the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 to implement mandatory member training.".

Other sources of information:

• December 2024: Government press release - "Major overhaul of planning committees to get Britain building" (link).
• December 2024: Planning Reform Working Paper - Planning Committees (pdf) (link).
  - Note: For more information about the above document, please view this post.
• May 2025: Government press release - "Government backs SME builders to get Britain building" (link).
• May 2025: Reform of planning committees - technical consultation (link) (pdf print version of HTML webpage).
  - Note: For more information about the above document, please view this post.
• March 2026: Reform of planning committees - technical consultation - government response (link) (pdf print version of HTML webpage).
  - Note: For more information about the above document, please view this post
• March 2026: Planning committee reform - statutory consultation on draft Regulations and guidance (link) (pdf print version of HTML webpage).
  - Note: For more information about the above document, please view this post.
• June 2026: MHCLG Guidance - Planning Committees and the National Scheme of Delegation of Planning Functions - Guidance for local planning authorities in England (link).