Camden's planning committee is about to lose 60% of its caseload. Here's who decides your scheme instead.
From 31 October the national scheme of delegation applies in Camden. Of the committee's classified caseload over the last twelve months, 60% was exactly the minor and householder work that must now be officer-decided.
From 31 October 2026 the national scheme of delegation applies in Camden, as in every English planning authority. Applications for 1 to 9 homes on sites under half a hectare, householder applications and minor commercial schemes must be decided by planning officers. No committee, no councillor call-in, no exceptions.
In Camden, where major schemes already dominate the committee agenda, the reform still removes 60 per cent of the classified caseload from member oversight. Of the committee decisions in our archive over the last twelve months whose application type is classified, 60 per cent (18 of 30) were minor and householder applications that must now be officer-decided.
What still gets a committee
Major schemes, departures from the development plan and applications a chief planning officer and a nominated member jointly certify as significant can still be heard, by a committee now capped at 13 members. Camden's committee record for those larger cases, including its handling of conservation area impacts and listed building applications in one of London's most sensitive planning environments, remains in our archive.
What replaces the committee for everyone else
A named case officer. And officers differ. Across Camden's active case officers we measure approval rates ranging from 19 to 94 per cent — a spread of 75 percentage points between the most and least permissive officers handling comparable cases in the same borough.
For anyone bringing a small scheme forward in Camden the practical consequence is clear: the political risk is gone, the human risk is measurable, and it is measurable in advance. Before you buy the site or fix the design, you can know whether your application is officer-decided (for 1 to 9 homes it is), and what the officers deciding schemes like yours in Camden have done before.
Even in Camden, where the committee already focused heavily on major schemes, 60% of last year's classified caseload moves to officers. With 39 active officers and a 75 percentage point spread in approval rates, knowing your officer matters.