Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to their press release “Government backs SME builders to get Britain building” published on 28 May, whether councillors on local authorities will be able to refer tier A planning applications to a planning application committee for consideration.

Our proposals to introduce a national scheme of delegation through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill would be mandatory for local planning authorities as defined in the Bill.

As set out in the technical consultation on reform of planning committees published on 28 May 2025, all applications in Tier A would be delegated to planning officers.

However, Question 5 asks for views on whether there should be a mechanism to bring a Tier A application to committee in exceptional circumstances and, if so, what would those circumstances be and how would the mechanism operate.

Applications in Tier B would be presumed to be delegated unless the chief planning officer (or equivalent officer in local planning authorities without a chief planning officer) and Chair of Committee agree it should go to Committee based on a gateway test.

The consultation is open for views until 23 July 2025.