Wirral Council voted unanimously on 28 October to protest the end of planning call-ins on 31 October, and asked for HMO rules to be reviewed. What changes.

Wirral councillors will no longer be able to call a planning application in for a committee vote from 31 October. A national scheme of delegation takes effect that day. It hands most planning decisions to council officers and sets out when a committee may still decide.

Updated 29 October: the extraordinary council meeting on 28 October passed the motion unanimously, with a Liberal Democrat amendment accepted. What it agreed is below.

Thirteen councillors forced the extraordinary meeting of the full council to debate the change. It took place at Wallasey Town Hall on Wednesday 28 October. The agenda pack and the draft minutes are published.

What the council agreed

Councillor Simon Mountney, leader of the Conservative group, moved the motion. The Liberal Democrat group put forward an amendment, which he accepted. The motion as amended was carried unanimously, the draft minutes record. Seventeen councillors sent apologies.

The council resolved to:

  • have the group leaders write again to the Secretary of State, following a minister’s letter of 21 August, asking for local flexibility so cases of “significant community concern” get public scrutiny
  • ask the government to change the “grey belt” test so that green belt which guards countryside from encroachment, or encourages urban regeneration, counts against development
  • tell neighbours and consultees about the new rules when they are notified of an application
  • have the chief planner give every councillor guidance before 31 October on how the scheme will work in Wirral
  • ask planning officers to engage with ward councillors before a delegated decision where there is community concern
  • publish records of the “gateway test” that decides whether a Schedule 2 case can go to committee, with clear reasons when one does not pass
  • bring a report on the effect of the changes to a committee within six months
  • ask for a report to the Economy, Regeneration and Housing Committee on setting up a group to review the council’s standards for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs)

The resolution cannot stop the national scheme, which still starts on 31 October.

What changes on 31 October

The rules come from the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 and regulations made under it. The government’s statutory guidance, published on 1 June, says they apply from 31 October 2026.

Applications fall into two groups.

What it covers Who decides
Schedule 1 Householder extensions, minor commercial schemes, one to nine homes on under half a hectare, discharge of conditions, prior approvals and most reserved matters Officers, always
Schedule 2 Everything else, including larger housing and commercial schemes, listed building consent, advertisements and tree preservation order works Officers, unless the chief planner and the planning committee chair both agree it should go to committee

A Schedule 2 case can only be referred to committee if it raises an economic, social or environmental issue “of significance to the local area”, or a significant planning matter. The guidance says referral should happen “only exceptionally”. If the chief planner and the chair disagree, officers decide.

Two familiar routes to committee go altogether. The guidance says ward councillors will no longer be able to require a case to be called in. Automatic referral once an application draws a set number of objections also ends.

Councils that keep deciding cases at committee when the rules say officers must decide risk a judicial review. The guidance warns that such decisions “may be quashed”.

The Glegg Arms example

The last big contested decision shows what is at stake. The Glegg Arms in Gayton reached committee on 7 October because ward councillor Kathy Hodson called it in, the officer report records. Officers recommended approving Whitbread’s plan to demolish it for 31 Premier Inn bedrooms.

Councillors refused it by six votes to three, the draft minutes show. They ruled the loss of the 1850s building was not outweighed by the benefits. We covered the decision and the background in full.

From 31 October a ward councillor could not call that application in. It could only reach a committee if the chief planner and the committee chair agreed it met the test.

What the motion argued

The motion was proposed by Councillor Mountney and seconded by Councillor Jeff Green. It argued that committee decisions are already rare in Wirral.

It said:

  • only 13 of 907 applications received in Wirral in 2025/26 were decided by the Planning Committee
  • nationally, only 19% of major applications were decided within the 13-week target between January and March 2026
  • delays in consultee responses, legal agreements and conditions, and permissions that are never built, matter more than committee votes

What it means for you

  • Commenting on applications is unchanged. You can still object to or support an application during its consultation period, and officers must take relevant planning comments into account.
  • Asking your councillor to call it in will not work for applications decided from 31 October. A councillor can still raise concerns with the planning officer.
  • Big schemes can still go to committee, if the chief planner and the chair agree they meet the test.
  • You can watch the debate. The council has published a webcast of the 28 October meeting.
  • Our Wirral planning news page tracks the borough’s bigger applications.