Purpose

This is a decision taken under the Scheme of Delegation to officers, as outlined in section 9.52 to make consequential amendments to the Constitution to comply with legislation changes, and to provide clarity.

Decision

Heloise MacAndrew, Director of Law and Governance took a decision to make the following amendments to the constitution of the county council:

To comply with legislative changes within the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, remove (a) through (n) within the Development Control Committee Terms of Reference and replace with the following:

a)  "To determine applications for planning permission that fall within Schedule 2 of the National Scheme of Delegation of Planning Functions under sections 319ZZC to 319ZZF of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026 (the Regulations).

b)  The functions which fall within Schedule 2 of the Regulations are:

(i) applications for planning permission not listed in Schedule 1 of the Regulations

(ii) applications for planning permission which would otherwise fall into Schedule 1 but are connected to a Schedule 2 application for listed building consent or for the variation or discharge of a condition on a listed building consent

(iii) applications to develop land without compliance with conditions previously attached in respect of which the previous planning permission was a Schedule 2 planning permission (under section 73(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990)

(iv) applications for development which has already been carried out (under section 73A(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990)

(v) where it is related to a phase of development in a large (*) outline planning permissions, applications for reserves matters approvals (under Article 6 of the Town and County Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015)

(vi) where a local planning authority considers a planning obligation is connected to a Schedule 2 application, requests to agree to modify or discharge a planning obligation (under section 106A(1)(a) of the Town and County Planning Act 1990)

(vii) where a local planning authority considers a planning obligation is connected to a Schedule 2 application, application for modification or discharge of a planning obligation (under section 106A(3) of the Town and County Planning Act 1990

(viii) applications for listed building consent (under section 10 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990)

(ix) applications for the variation or discharge of conditions of listed building consent (under section 19 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990)

(x) applications for advertisement consent (under regulation 9 of the Town and County Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007)

(xi) applications for consent under tree preservation orders (under regulation 16 of the Town and County Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012

(xii) where a local authority considers that the application for planning permission is connected to a Schedule 2 application for listed building consent or for the variation or discharge of a condition on a listed building consent

(xiii) the application for planning permission is connected to a Schedule 2 application is made under section 73A of the Town and County Planning Act 1990

c)  An application can be referred to a committee or sub-committee only where:

(i) at least one of the criteria in regulation 5(3) of the Regulations is met or it is an own-interest application (regulation 6) of the Regulations; and

(ii) the nominated officer (Director of Environment and Planning, (or any successor post replacement role, or officer carrying out substantially the same functions and responsibilities or the nominee) and nominated member of the planning committee (Chair of the Development Control Committee) or nominee agree to the referral, or;

(iii) in the case of an Own-interest applications where the nominated officer and nominated member agree, they can be referred to the committee without the need for consideration of the criteria set out in regulation 5(3) of the Regulations.

d)  A large outline planning permission for the purpose of the Regulations is an outline planning permission which grants permission for development involving the provision of at least 500 dwellings or a building or buildings where the floorspace to be created by the development is 50,000 square metres or more. A reserved matters application for such development must meet the criteria set out under regulation 5(3) of the Regulations for a committee to consider it."

Section 9: Officers

Scheme of Delegation to Officers

To comply with legislative changes, at 9.52 add the following functions to be reserved to the Director of Environment and Regulatory and subsequently adjust the numbering of the table.

1. To apply the Gateway Test in respect of the National Scheme of Delegation of Planning Functions under sections 319ZZC to 319ZZF of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026.
2. To determine Planning Applications that fall within Schedule 1 of the National Scheme of Delegation of Planning Functions under sections 319ZZC to 319ZZF of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026.
3. In agreement with the Chair of the Planning Committee to refer the County Council's own-interest planning applications whether they fall under Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 of the National Scheme of Delegation of Planning Functions under sections 319ZZC to 319ZZF of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026 to the Development Control Committee without the need for consideration of the criteria set out in regulation 5(3) i.e. the Gateway Test. To determine the County Council's own-interest planning applications where no referral has been made to the Development Control Committee.
4. To determine Planning Applications that fall within Schedule 2 of the National Scheme of Delegation of Planning Functions under sections 319ZZC to 319ZZF of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026, where no referral has been made to the Development Control Committee.

List of Proper Officers

To correct an error or resolve an inconsistency, amend the List of Proper Officers: Schedule of Appointment to reflect that the Chief Inspector of Weights and Measures is the Trading Standards Manager

Section 3: Full Council

For clarity at 3.12, remove reference to Local Transport Plan.