Area planning committees face about 80% fewer cases when councillor call-in ends on 31 October. What officers will decide, and the new route to a hearing.
From 31 October, Cheshire East councillors will lose the power to call a planning application in to a committee. Far more applications will be decided by council officers, with no public meeting.
The council has measured what that means. Based on the last 12 months, the Northern and Southern Planning Committees would see about 80% fewer applications. The Strategic Planning Board, which handles the largest schemes, would see about 25% fewer. The figures are in a report by David Malcolm, the council’s head of planning, to the board’s meeting on 16 September (National Scheme of Delegation report, Strategic Planning Board).
The Northern Planning Committee decides applications for the Macclesfield, Wilmslow and Handforth side of the borough. The Southern committee covers the Crewe end.
Why it is happening
The change is national, and the council has no choice about it. The Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 gave ministers the power to set out who decides which applications. The resulting regulations take effect across England on 31 October (The Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026).
The report says the rules create “a strong presumption in favour of officer decisions”. It adds: “Committee involvement becomes the exception, not the norm.”
What officers must always decide
Some applications can never go to a committee after 31 October. These include:
- householder applications, such as extensions
- minor residential schemes of up to 9 homes on sites under 0.5 hectares
- minor commercial schemes
- details required by planning conditions
- prior approvals and certificates of lawfulness
- most reserved matters, the detailed designs that follow an outline permission
The reserved matters change is the one the report calls most significant, along with the end of call-in. Only reserved matters on outline permissions of 500 homes or more can still reach a committee. A detailed layout for a 200-home estate with outline permission would be an officer decision.
Larger schemes: a two-person gateway
Bigger applications, including anything of 10 homes or more, will also go to officers by default. One can reach a committee only if two people agree: a nominated officer and a nominated councillor, normally the head of planning and the committee chair.
They must also find that it raises either:
- a significant planning matter, judged against the Local Plan and other considerations, or
- a significant economic, social or environmental issue for the local area
The government’s guidance says referrals should be “exceptional rather than routine”.
Cheshire East’s own thresholds
The council’s draft constitution adds a local filter (Appendix 2, draft changes to the constitution). Officers would decide these outright:
- housing schemes of up to and including 20 homes, or up to 1 hectare
- commercial schemes of up to and including 5,000 square metres, or up to 2 hectares
- all advertisement consents
- all tree preservation order applications
Anything larger would face the gateway test. If it passes, it would go to the committee that suits its size:
| Committee | Housing schemes it would take |
|---|---|
| Northern or Southern Planning Committee | 20 to 199 homes, or 1 to 4 hectares |
| Strategic Planning Board | 200 homes or more, or 4 hectares or more |
What replaces call-in
The report proposes a “Request for Gateway Review”. A ward councillor could fill in an online form asking the nominated officer and chair to consider sending an application to committee. The request would have to argue one of the two tests.
The report is clear that this “does not create a new member right to require committee consideration”. It also admits the cost: “The lack of local democratic accountability may also give rise to public criticism.”
What stays the same
- Each committee has 12 members, under the new national cap of 13, so none has to shrink.
- A single planning committee is now “a viable option”, the report says. A council working group largely favoured keeping the three committees until May 2027.
- Applications already delegated to officers stay delegated.
What it means for you
The report does not change how you comment on an application. It changes who decides it.
- If a neighbour applies for an extension, an officer will decide it from 31 October. No councillor can send it to a committee.
- If you want a councillor to take up a larger scheme, contact your ward councillor early. From 31 October, the only way a councillor can ask for a committee hearing is a Gateway Review request, if the council adopts it. It will need to name a significant planning matter or local issue, so give your councillor specifics.
- If a scheme does reach a committee, the public speaking rules still apply. You must register by 12 noon the day before (public speaking protocol).
What happens next
- 16 September: the Strategic Planning Board is asked to note the changes
- 2 October: the council’s Constitution Committee considers them
- 14 October: full Council decides
- 31 October: the new rules take effect
The same 16 September meeting will decide two large housing schemes in Wilmslow. Read our report on the 293 homes at Cumber Lane and Dean Row Road. For other schemes across the district, see our Macclesfield planning news page.
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