New national legislation, including a National Scheme of Delegation, mandates significant alterations to how planning applications are decided and caps the size of planning committees across all councils. Following a Full Council meeting on 20th October 2026, North Warwickshire Borough Council is set to amend its constitution to comply with these regulations, which must take effect by 31 October to avoid potential judicial review of subsequent planning decisions.
The changes have been met with widespread disagreement among councillors. Councillor David Wright, Leader of the Council, expressed significant anger, stating, “Like many other Council Leaders and Councillors of all parties across the Country I feel very angry that Government has forced Councils to accept this. It goes against the principles of democracy which is fundamental to Local Government and takes away the ability of elected members to have control over decision making on planning matters in their local area.”
Councillor Wright highlighted that North Warwickshire already has a balanced decision-making process and makes decisions in a timely manner. He questioned the necessity of treating all councils uniformly, particularly when the government has existing powers to address councils that procrastinate or make poor decisions. He also noted that these sweeping changes include a review of Green Belt areas.
The new regulations cap planning committees at 13 councillors, requiring North Warwickshire to reduce its current committee size from 16. Despite the majority of councillors voting against the changes, the council's constitution must be amended to reflect the law.
