publication

England's National Scheme of Delegation for local planning decisions takes effect on 31 October

England's National Scheme of Delegation of Planning Functions came into effect on 31 October 2026, moving defined routine planning applications toward decisions by qualified officers rather than committee votes, with exceptions. Government guidance and announcement support the legal authority change, but not any measured acceleration or a transfer of planning decisions to AI. A separate DeepMind PlanAssist beta is not this statutory measure.