Planning matters

On 31 March 2026, a new Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2026 was published[1] following an announcement in a Written Ministerial Statement[2] made on 23 March 2026.

The Written Ministerial Statement  from the Housing Minister said (our emphasis) “To provide further support for housebuilding, a new Consultation Direction will be made this month specifying that where a Local Planning Authority (LPA) intends to refuse planning permission for a housing scheme of 150 dwellings or more, they must consult the Secretary of State to enable Ministers to decide whether to use their existing powers to call in that planning application”.

The Consultation Direction has now been published. The application of these provisions does not relate to the date the application was submitted. It applies to applications for planning permission including 150+ homes not determined before 11th May. This provides local planning authorities (LPAs) with a limited window to refuse such applications without needing to consult the Secretary of State.

The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (DMPO) sets out the requirements relating to consultations required before the grant of permission. It says that planning permission must not be granted until 21 days after a consultee (as defined by the Order) has received a copy of the application for their review. As of the 26th March, the DMPO now says that the planning permission cannot be ‘determined’ prior to the 21 day consultation period expiring – i.e. the requirement will apply to both approving and refusing planning permission.

The DMPO also allows the Housing Secretary to give directions to a LPA requiring it to consult any person or body named in the directions, in any case or class of case specified in the directions.

Further to the new call-in powers for certain residential schemes, the Government has published a consultation[3] on new requirements to consult the Secretary of State where LPAs are minded to refuse planning permission for commercial development with a floorspace of 15,000m2 or more. The aim of this proposal is to ensure that large scale, strategic developments are considered for potential call-in, to help with the Government’s priority of promoting economic growth.

The consultation also sets out a proposal for new consultation requirements where LPAs are minded to refuse certain applications relating to nuclear facilities. The proposals will apply to applications relating to land owned or leased by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (or one of its subsidiaries) or applications relating to nuclear fuel cycle facilities, including facilities for uranium conversion, enrichment, deconversion, nuclear fuel manufacture, or associated production processes.

The Government says:

The consultation concludes on 4 May 2026.