On 11 March, the Government laid before Parliament new legislation that promises to bring in significant changes to the way in which planning decisions may be taken in the UK. This month, we take a look at some of the key changes proposed in The Planning and Infrastructure bill 2025.

The focus this month will be on the core changes to Planning decision making and statutory consultation. Next month, we will look at some of the other changes affecting the delivery of larger and more complex development projects and national infrastructure.

National Scheme of Delegation
To improve local planning decision-making, the Bill proposes several reforms. A national scheme of delegation is to be set out in regulations to standardise planning decisions across local authorities, reducing delays and improving decision-making. It was suggested during a February 2025 consultation that this national scheme of delegation could support the Government’s proposals for brownfield passporting whereby details of the type of development considered appropriate on brownfield sites will be set out.

It is hoped that the national scheme for delegation will set out the criteria for references to planning committees. These are often set out in the Council’s constitution or standing orders but sometimes are not very clearly set out at all, if addressed.

Where a specific number of public objections to a scheme are required to take a case to committee, this should ideally be based on objections within the local area (to be defined within a certain radius of the site) and should be relevant to planning and be reasonable planning grounds, with the Head of Planning having discretion as to whether the reasons raised are unreasonable and should not be considered.