Brent Council constitution changes fail to pass

16 September 2026

Proposed changes to Brent Council's constitution, designed to align with new national planning regulations, have failed to pass. The council meeting on Monday, September 14, 2026, saw the proposals put to a vote but they were ultimately lost, meaning the council must revisit the changes at an extraordinary meeting to ensure compliance by the October 31 deadline.

Councillor Matt Kelcher, Cabinet Member for Regeneration & Planning, had introduced the changes, which are primarily driven by the Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026. These regulations introduce national rules on which planning applications must be delegated to officers and which may be referred to the Planning Committee.

Under the proposed changes, which align with the new national scheme, planning applications would be categorised as follows:

Schedule 1 applications: These must be delegated to officers in all cases.
Schedule 2 applications: These are presumed to be delegated to officers unless exceptionally, the 'nominated member and nominated officer' agree that at least one of the criteria in regulation 5(3) is met, or it is an 'own-interest application' and the nominated member and nominated officer agree it should be referred to a planning committee or sub-committee.

The regulation 5(3) criteria for referral include if the application raises a significant planning matter or an economic, social, or environmental issue of significance to the local area. Applications made by or on behalf of the council, a member or officer of the council, or where the council or any of its members or officers have an interest, are considered 'own-interest applications'.

However, during the debate, concerns were raised by Councillor Morris and Councillor Norbert about the potential reduction in scrutiny and public involvement in planning decisions due to the new delegation arrangements. Councillor Morris argued that the changes would mean the council cannot pull in any applications and that there would be no scrutiny whatsoever, preventing residents who want their applications scrutinised by the planning committee from doing so. He specifically noted that the current practice of calling in applications based on eight or more objections would be removed.

Councillor Norbert, while acknowledging the changes are imposed by central government, expressed concern about the communication of these changes to councillors and the public, fearing residents would not understand these changes and they will not understand why we do not get involved as councillors and represent them. He highlighted a past controversial planning application in his ward that was approved under delegated authority without going to committee, which he felt went under the radar and caused damage to the area. He also raised concerns about the council's planning portal not working, limiting residents' ability to make submissions.

It is important to note that under the national scheme, current practices such as ward councillors requiring cases to be called in based on a certain number of objections will no longer be possible. The proposed changes also included mechanisms for record keeping of cases considered for referral, the outcome, and reasons, which would be reported to the Planning Committee and made available on the website.

The failure of the vote means that Brent Council did not approve these specific mechanisms. The council will now need to revisit these changes, likely at an extraordinary council meeting, to ensure compliance by the October deadline. If Brent Council fails to comply with the national planning regulations by the October deadline, it will not be compliant.