What’s new: New planning regulations coming into force across England on 31 October will mean fewer applications are decided by councillors and remove ward members’ ability to call applications into committee.
Why it matters: Conservative and Reform UK councillors in Stoke-on-Trent argue the changes could reduce their ability to represent residents, particularly over controversial developments.
The big picture: City council leaders say the practical impact in Stoke-on-Trent will be limited because most planning applications are already determined by officers.
This article is based on reporting from the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), a BBC funded initiative set up to strengthen reporting on local democratic issues. The Staffordshire Signal has taken part in the scheme since September 2026, which means we're able to draw on a selection of LDRS stories alongside our own.
Opposition councillors have criticised national changes to planning rules as a ‘slippery slope’.
New regulations will come into force across England on 31 October that will mean fewer planning decisions will be taken by councillors in future.
Ward councillors will also lose the power to ‘call in’ controversial applications to the planning committee.
The government says the changes will speed up planning decisions and accelerate development, but critics believe they undermine local democracy.
Elected members at Labour-run Stoke-on-Trent City Council voted to update the authority’s own rules to align with national policy at their meeting on Thursday.
But opposition Conservative and Reform UK councillors condemned the new regulations, saying that they would reduce their ability to represent residents.
Tory councillor Dave Evans is particularly concerned due to his Baddeley, Milton and Norton ward containing several controversial sites earmarked for housing in the draft local plan.
He said: “I worry about the national trend from the current government of removing anything they see as a block from the planning system. The ‘block’ in this case is democracy, effectively – the democratic right of elected councillors to call in applications. If you stop asking people a question because you don’t like the answer they’re giving you, you’re on a bit of a slippery slope.
“I wouldn’t vote for anything that could end my residents’ ability to call in application on Green Belt land in Norton Green and Ball Green.”
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Under the new planning system, all technical and routine planning applications in ‘schedule 1’, including minor residential schemes of up to nine homes, will be determined by professional, unelected council officers.
All other applications could potentially be sent to the planning committee for a decision, but only if the chief planning officer and the chair of planning agree to this, with the planning officer having the final say.
Reform councillor Carl Edwards, who also represents Baddeley, Milton and Norton, said he disagreed with this part of the new system.
He said: “I can’t vote for this for one reason. With decisions on whether to bring applications to committee, it will be between the nominated officer and the chair of the planning committee. But the unelected officer gets priority. If there’s a disagreement, the unelected officer gets precedence. If it was the other way around, then I could support this.”
Council leaders say the national change will actually have little impact in Stoke-on-Trent, as the city council already delegates far more planning decisions to officers than neighbouring authorities.
The planning committee has only determined nine applications in 2026, with the vast majority of decisions being taken by officers.
Councillor Finlay Gordon-McCusker, cabinet member for regeneration, insisted that major, controversial applications will still be determined by councillors under the new system.
He said: “What it will do is allow the committee to concentrate on the applications that shape the city, the ones that matter to whole communities, rather than spending time on very minor matters.
“We already have a fairly tight scheme of delegation, so really not a lot will change.
“This will be better for residents, better for applicants, and better for the quality of decisions.
Cllr Gordon-McCusker also stressed that if the council did not incorporate the national changes into its own planning system it could result in decisions being overturned and costs awarded against the authority.
Councillor Andy Platt, chair of the planning committee, also played down the impact of the new regulations in Stoke-on-Trent, saying that ‘effectively nothing changes’.
Written by Phil Corrigan, Local Democracy Reporter.
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