Summary

  • MHCLG says early PlanAssist testing cut time on key planning tasks by 58% and helped halve processing time for routine householder applications from eight weeks to four; it publishes no task-level sample, correction rate or decision-quality result.
  • PlanAssist is expanding to 15 councils for 12 months. Officers review its evidence-backed initial assessment and remain responsible for each decision.
  • From 31 October, England’s national scheme sends Schedule 1 applications to officers. Schedule 2 applications also default to officers; committee referral requires a statutory gateway and agreement by both a nominated officer and nominated member.
  • Existing ward-member call-ins and objection-count triggers cannot continue. The gateway record is now part of the test: councils should publish which cases were considered, what happened and why.

On 30 October, the government put two changes in the same planning announcement. One changes who decides an application. The other gives officers an AI-assisted way to assemble information before they decide. The two changes meet at the officer’s desk; their results need separate scorecards.

PlanAssist brings an application, local policies and site constraints together and produces an evidence-backed initial assessment for an officer to review. MHCLG says early testing cut time spent on key planning tasks by 58%, helping reduce routine householder processing from eight weeks to four. Those are the government’s reported results. The release does not give the number of applications or tasks measured, the task mix, the rate at which officers changed the assessment, or the decisions’ later appeal outcomes.

The distinction matters because a faster file is not yet a better decision. The published figure measures time spent on work. The department says officers will keep reviewing applications and making the decisions. It is expanding the tool to 15 councils for 12 months, where officers will use it alongside their usual process and test performance at scale. PlanAssist is optional for councils.

The second change has a wider reach. Regulations in force from 31 October establish a National Scheme of Delegation for planning functions in England. Schedule 1 applications must go to officers. The list includes householder work and minor residential and commercial applications; the regulations also place several technical consents and related decisions in that schedule.

Schedule 2 applications start in the same place: with an officer. A case can reach a planning committee only if it meets at least one of two criteria—an economic, social or environmental issue significant to the local area, or a significant planning matter—and both the nominated planning officer and nominated committee member agree to refer it. The guidance expects the nominated officer to be the chief planning officer or equivalent and the nominated member to be the committee chair or equivalent.

That gate replaces a more direct local route. A ward councillor can no longer require a case to be “called in” under a local constitution, and a set number of objections cannot automatically send it to committee. Residents may still comment on applications; the rule changes who makes the decision and which cases can reach a public committee vote.

MHCLG’s consultation response records 611 submissions. Of the 593 answers to the draft-regulations question, 333 came from individuals and 156 from local authorities. The department says many individual responses opposed the principle of a national scheme because of the perceived loss of local democratic oversight. Respondents also asked for clearer gateway criteria, more detail about disagreements and scope for member call-in.

Government shifted the start date to 31 October, adjusted section 73 applications and clarified “own-interest applications.” It added a statutory review due by 31 October 2028. Further process detail went into statutory guidance and good-practice advice. That guidance says councils need not screen every Schedule 2 application for possible referral; each council can define which cases enter the gate.

The guidance supplies one public check. Councils should record the cases the nominated pair considered, the result and the reasons, then report regularly to the planning committee and publish the record online. That makes the gateway auditable for cases it sees. The constitution’s screening rule will determine which cases reach that record.

The Regulatory Policy Committee reviewed the impact assessment for the national scheme. It called for clearer research questions, metrics, baselines, data sources, timing and a method for separating the reform’s effects from other planning changes. It also wanted stronger evidence for time-saving assumptions that drive the modelled benefits. Those comments concern the delegation scheme’s forecast, not PlanAssist’s pilot.

PlanAssist has a 12-month test. The delegation scheme has a statutory review due in 2028. Between them sits the ordinary application that an officer must decide. A public evaluation should pair the tool’s use with task type, elapsed time, officer corrections, decision outcome and subsequent appeal; a separate referral register should show the Schedule 2 cases considered, referred or left with officers, with reasons. If the time gain survives that comparison without more corrections or overturned decisions, the government’s case strengthens. A higher correction or appeal rate would change it.

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