From 31 October, officers decide house extensions in Bracknell Forest however many neighbours object, and councillors lose call-in. What changes and when.

Neighbours in Bracknell Forest will lose their most direct route to a public planning vote on 31 October. From that date, more than five objections will no longer send an application to the council’s Planning Committee. A single councillor will no longer be able to call one in either.

The change comes from national rules, not a local choice. The council’s Governance and Audit Committee meets on Wednesday 16 September at 7.30pm to recommend the rewrite of the council’s constitution needed to comply. (Bracknell Forest Council, Governance and Audit Committee, 16 September 2026)

How applications reach committee now

The officer report sets out the current rules. Most applications decided by the committee get there in one of two ways:

  • a single councillor asks for it, with a valid planning reason
  • the application draws more than five objections from different households or organisations

“Under the national scheme of delegation such referrals will not be possible,” the report says. (Report to Governance and Audit Committee (PDF))

What happens from 31 October

The Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026 split applications into two lists. (legislation.gov.uk, SI 2026/854)

Schedule 1 applications must be decided by officers, however much local interest there is. They include:

  • householder applications, such as extensions
  • minor housing schemes of one to nine homes on under half a hectare
  • minor commercial development
  • discharge of conditions and non-material amendments
  • prior approvals and lawful development certificates

Schedule 2 applications go to officers by default. That covers larger schemes. One reaches the committee only if two people agree it passes a “gateway test”, raising an issue of economic, social or environmental significance to the area, or a significant planning matter.

In Bracknell Forest, those two people would be:

  • the nominated member: the chair of the Planning Committee, with the vice-chair as substitute
  • the nominated officer: the Assistant Director: Planning, with the development management team managers as substitutes

If they cannot agree, officers decide.

How a Bracknell Forest planning application reaches committee, before and after 31 October 2026 Now: a single councillor can ask, with a planning reason, or more than five objections from different households or organisations send it. From 31 October: householder, minor housing of 1 to 9 homes and minor commercial applications are always decided by officers. Larger schemes go to committee only if the Planning Committee chair and the Assistant Director: Planning agree it passes the gateway test. If they disagree, officers decide. Who can send a planning application to a public vote Bracknell Forest Council, before and after the national scheme of delegation Now Any one councillor can ask, with a valid planning reason More than 5 objections from different households or organisations Applies to house extensions and large schemes alike From 31 October 2026 Extensions, 1 to 9 homes, minor commercial: officers only however many people object Larger schemes: committee only if the committee chair AND the Assistant Director: Planning agree it passes the gateway test If they disagree, officers decide Council decides the constitution change on 25 November, but will follow the new rules from 31 October. Source: Bracknell Forest Council, Governance and Audit Committee report; SI 2026/854. Graphic by Bracknell Online
The objection count and the councillor call-in both disappear as routes to committee.

The kind of case that changes

The committee’s last meeting shows what is at stake. On 10 September it considered one application: a two storey house extension in the Bullbrook ward. It was there because five neighbouring households objected, and Bracknell Town Council recommended refusal. (Planning Committee report, 10 September 2026 (PDF))

Officers recommended approval. Councillors voted that down and refused it on parking and highway safety grounds. (Planning Committee minutes, 10 September 2026 (PDF))

The officer report treats it as a householder application, and those are on Schedule 1. After 31 October, the same application would be decided by an officer, with no route to committee at all.

What else officers will decide alone

The council is also using a “triage” list the rules allow. These Schedule 2 applications will skip the gateway test and go straight to officers:

  • listed building consent not linked to a larger application
  • advertisement consent not linked to a larger application
  • works to trees protected by a Tree Preservation Order
  • changes of use, except where a community facility or service would be lost
  • making a new Tree Preservation Order
  • changes to section 106 agreements not linked to an application

Two local rules go with it. At present, a new Tree Preservation Order needs a committee decision if more than five people object. A section 106 change outside an application goes to committee if one councillor asks or three households object. Both triggers will be removed. (Annex B, Planning Management Scheme (PDF))

The committee itself does not need to shrink. The rules cap a planning committee at 13 members, and Bracknell Forest’s has 12.

What it means for you

The rules change who decides, not whether you can comment. Every officer report, delegated or not, will now say how the decision was taken under the new rules. What goes is the number: from 31 October, gathering six objections from a street no longer puts a householder application in front of councillors.

For larger schemes, the route is now a request to the committee chair and the planning service to treat the scheme as significant. The council will publish every case the pair consider, with the outcome and their reasons. The list will be reported to the Planning Committee every quarter.

Any decision taken on or after 31 October must follow the new rules, even if the application went in earlier. Our planning news page tracks the borough’s larger schemes.

Key dates

  • 16 September 2026, 7.30pm: Governance and Audit Committee considers the changes
  • 31 October 2026: the national rules take effect, and the council applies them from that day
  • 25 November 2026: full Council is due to approve the constitution change

The report gives the full Council date as 26 November in one place and 25 November in another. The council’s meeting calendar lists 25 November. (Bracknell Forest Council, Council meetings)

Councillors have raised it already. At Council on 9 September, Cllr Tony Virgo asked for enough time to debate the change in November. Cllr Gillbe, Cabinet Member for Planning, replied in support of “appropriate provision” on the November agenda. A briefing for all councillors has been arranged before that meeting. (Council question responses, September 2026 (PDF))

Sources