Decision

It was MOVED by Councillor Persian, SECONDED by Councillor Farnworth and it was RESOLVED:

(i) to note the Government’s national planning committee reform and the requirement to amend the Constitution to comply with the new statutory arrangements.

(ii) that Planning Committees A and B should be replaced by one Planning Committee, with Strategic Planning Committee being retained for applications of strategic significance, including applications falling within Parts 1 to 4 of the Schedule to the Town and Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2008 and any other application, which in the opinion of the Director of Planning following consultation with the Monitoring Officer, ought to be determined by Strategic Planning Committee.

(iii) that Article 9 of the Constitution be amended to remove the existing terms of reference and composition for Planning Committees A and B and to insert revised terms of reference for a single Planning Committee and a Strategic Planning Committee, as set out in Appendix 1.

(iv) that Part 3 of the Constitution, including the Scheme of Delegation to Officers, be amended to replace the existing local thresholds for committee referral with a scheme aligned to the national statutory schedules and gateway test, as set out in Appendix 2.

(v) that all local referral mechanisms which are inconsistent with the national scheme be removed. This includes referral by reason only of ten or more valid Page 2 planning objections, objection by a member of the Council, departure from the development plan, referral because a public house is affected, and amenity society referral through Chairs’ Briefing, save to the extent that any of those matters may be relevant to the statutory gateway assessment.

(vi) that the Chief Planning Officer be designated as the ‘nominated officer’ for the purposes of operating the gateway test, with authority to nominate an appropriately senior planning officer in writing where necessary to ensure resilience and business continuity.

(vii) that the Chair of the Planning Committee be designated as the ‘nominated member’ for the purposes of the gateway test, with the Vice-Chair authorised to act where the Chair is unavailable, conflicted, disqualified or otherwise unable to act.

(viii) that gateway decisions must be assessed and recorded in accordance with the Gateway Assessment Protocol at Appendix 3 and the Gateway Assessment Form at Appendix 4, with reasons retained as part of the planning file, published where appropriate and reported regularly to the Planning Committee.

(ix) that the Monitoring Officer be instructed to make all consequential amendments to the Constitution, committee procedure rules, planning committee public speaking arrangements, member training requirements and officer decision recording provisions necessary to give effect to the new arrangements.

(x) that the Monitoring Officer prepare an implementation plan covering committee membership, political proportionality, training, publication of guidance, transition arrangements for applications already in the system, and communications to Members, officers and the public.

These recommendations will take effect from 31st October 2026.