Huge changes are coming to Planning Committees in England on 31 October 2026.
The rules relating to call-ins will change making it much more difficult – and in many cases impossible – for planning applications to be called in for a Planning Committee decision.
This attack on local democracy, and on residents rights to attend and speak at planning committee meetings for certain decisions, is covered in our template Council Motion which you can move to mark your council’s opposition to the Governments decision.
Planning applications will now be dealt with different depending on whether they fall into Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 categories.
Applications in Schedule 1 (often referred to as minor applications) will no longer be decided by planning committees. It will be impossible for ward councillors to call-in these applications. Instead they will be automatically delegated to planning officers on the council to determine.
Applications that fall under Schedule 1 include:
- Housing developments of fewer than 10 dwellings on sites smaller than 0.5 hectares
- Householder applications such as extensions and loft conversions
- Minor commercial developments
- Reserved matters applications
- Certificates of Lawfulness
- Discharge of conditions
Applications that fall under Schedule 2 can still be called in for a planning committee decision. A strong planning ground (based on economic, environmental and social impact) must be given and the lead planning member (i.e. the chair of the planning committee) and head of planning must agree to the call in. The slight difference now is that the head of planning overrides the chair of committee if they cannot reach agreement.
Applications that fall under Section 2 include:
- Major housing applications (10 or more houses)
- Major commercial applications
- Listed building consents
- Tree preservation orders
- Advertising consents
- Retrospective applications that would otherwise fall under Schedule 1
In addition, it is no longer lawful for a council to have an objection threshold – a set number of objections that, if received, automatically triggers a call-in to committee. If something is in Schedule 1, and it receives 1000 objections, it must still be an officer decision.
What this means for our community representation
The power of ward councillors to call-in an application will be removed. In reality, it is likely that a planning chair and head of planning will agree to an evidenced call-in request for a significant, or contentious, Schedule 2 application. However this cannot be guaranteed.
The call-in ability will be lost entirely for applications that fall under Schedule 1.
In both circumstances, it is still possible for residents and elected members to raise objections to planning applications via the normal route for your council. This has not changed. So you can still encourage residents to object, and these representations must be considered by officers determining an application. You can of course make significant representations yourself as part of this process.
ALDC’s advice is to not let these rules change your local campaigning on planning issues. Still engage with your residents and encourage them to make representations. If you have a contentious application in your ward you should:
- Communicate with residents encouraging them to make formal representations
- If it is a Schedule 2 application, request a call in for a committee decision and give planning grounds for your request.
- If it is a Schedule 1 application, make a detailed representation to the lead planning officer for the application. You can summarise representations that have been put in by residents, and make your representation public so residents can see you fighting their corner.
Of course this does not just apply to applications you wish to outright oppose. You may want to work with an application, request additional conditions or push for a small tweak to plans. You should do this the same way as above.
If an application is affected by these new rules, and it does not go the way you and your residents want, you should call out the government on introducing these changes and removing democracy from the planning process.
ALDC resources to help you campaign on local planning applications
We have updated our planning application campaign templates to reflect these changes:
For applications that can no longer be called in (schedule 1):
- Consultation leaflet – Affinity – PDF
- Press Release
- Email to Residents
For applications that can still be called in (schedule 2):
- Consultation leaflet – Affinity – PDF
- Press Release
- Email to Residents