At the meeting of Full Council on 15 October 2026, Councillors approved the establishment of a Planning Committee to meet new national planning legislation which comes into force on 31 October 2026. The new arrangements are required by law and affect all local planning authorities in England.
What is changing
Before making their decision, Councillors were made aware that they could not choose whether or not to adopt the core elements of the national reforms, but were instead being asked to establish how the reforms could best be operated locally.
One of the most significant changes is that the new reforms dictate which categories of planning applications must be determined by officers and which categories may be determined a planning committee.
You can watch the Full Council discussion in full on our YouTube Channel.
Cllr Lynn Blackwell, Lead Member for Planning & Regulatory Services said: “The Council agreed to form a Planning Committee in order to ensure the Council’s governance structure aligns with the new national planning reforms and enables us to operate under them in a way that is appropriate for the islands. I encourage everyone to read the information about the changes on the Council’s website and get in touch with any questions or concerns about the new arrangements.
I would also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that all planning applications can be viewed on the planning pages of our website and that we post a Weekly Planning update on the Council’s Facebook page, should anyone wish to follow that account.”
How the new Planning Committee will operate
The Planning Committee will comprise 13 elected Members and will consider planning applications that are capable of Member determination under the National Scheme of Delegation. Other applications will be determined by officers in accordance with national legislation.
In order to make best use of Members' time, Planning Committee meetings will generally be scheduled to coincide with Full Council meeting dates. However, meetings will only take place where there are applications requiring a Planning Committee decision and it is therefore expected that the Committee will not need to meet every month.
The Council has also approved mandatory planning training for Committee Members and local arrangements for assessing whether certain applications should be referred to Committee through a Gateway Test process.
Further information
If you have any questions or concerns about the new reforms, please email planning@scilly.gov.uk or call 0300 1234 105 and select the option for the Planning Department.