Labour are changing the planning rules

Planning decisions that people care about should be able to be decided in public by people voters have voted for.

The Government is telling local Councils that after 31st October 2026 most planning decisions cannot be decided by a Planning Committee. 

At present Councils have rules about which applications are decided by Planning Committees and which are delegated to planning officers.  It is normal for councillors and/or local people to be able to ask for a particular decision to be taken in public by the Planning Committee.

All this is going to go.

The Government is setting new rules for all Councils, banning most applications from ever being heard in public.  

• If the system is not broken it doesn't need changing.
• If a few councils are managing their Planning processes badly, these are the ones that need to change, not all councils.

We think that this blanket move to decisions being taken behind closed doors is wrong and ask that the Government cancel this change.