The Government has confirmed a substantial package of statutory consultee reforms for planning applications in England. The changes will remove statutory consultee status from The Gardens Trust and Theatres Trust, narrow referral requirements for several national bodies and retain Sport England with a reduced statutory remit.
These reforms were announced on 17 August 2026. They are important, but they are not yet operative law: the Government says regulations will follow in due course to bring the changes into force. Until those regulations take effect, local planning authorities should continue to apply the current statutory consultation requirements.
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What do the statutory consultee reforms change?
The reforms follow the consultation launched in November 2025. The final response confirms that the Government will remove The Gardens Trust and Theatres Trust from the list of statutory consultees, while introducing new notification arrangements so both organisations continue to receive specified applications.
Sport England will remain a statutory consultee, contrary to the original proposal to remove it entirely. However, its role will be narrowed to focus on more significant development affecting playing fields.
The package also changes the referral criteria for National Highways, Active Travel England, Historic England and the Mining Remediation Authority. The Government is retaining its moratorium on creating new statutory consultees.
Our main guide to statutory consultees in planning applications explains the current Article 18 and Schedule 4 framework.
The Gardens Trust moves from consultation to notification
The Gardens Trust will cease to be a statutory consultee for development likely to affect registered parks and gardens. Instead, local planning authorities will be required to notify the Trust of applications involving development within registered parks and gardens.
That distinction matters. A statutory consultation carries prescribed duties and response arrangements; notification simply ensures the organisation is made aware of the application and can comment. The Government expressly says The Gardens Trust will not receive the new notification solely because development affects the setting of a registered park or garden.
LPAs will still be able to consult the Trust voluntarily where specialist advice would assist. Registered parks and gardens will also continue to be protected through national heritage policy. See our guide to registered parks and gardens.
Theatres Trust also loses statutory consultee status
Theatres Trust will also move to a notification-based role. The Government intends to require LPAs to notify it of relevant applications, including development on land containing a theatre, but the Trust will no longer be under the statutory consultation regime.
Planning Practice Guidance is also expected to be updated so that the agent of change principle is properly considered where development could affect an existing theatre or cultural venue.
Sport England stays, but with a narrower remit
The Government has rejected its original proposal to remove Sport England as a statutory consultee. Instead, it will remain involved in the most significant playing-field cases, including physical loss for housing or commercial development and substantial school or sports development on playing fields.
Lower-risk categories will be removed from the mandatory referral regime, including:
- behind-the-wire defence and prison sites
- playing pitches below 0.4 hectares
- development adjacent to playing fields
- ancillary facilities such as pavilions, parking, lighting and storage
- temporary classrooms and routine school development
National Highways referrals will be more targeted
National Highways will no longer be consulted merely because a scheme falls outside the regulatory definition of minor development. The new principal trigger will instead be whether a Transport Assessment is required.
Statutory consultation will continue for proposals affecting trunk-road boundaries, structures close to trunk roads, drainage or structural integrity, capacity of existing trunk-road accesses and junctions, and safety or operational impacts.
This is a material change for validation and pre-application strategy because applicants will need to identify much earlier whether a Transport Assessment is required and whether a trunk-road-specific trigger applies.
Active Travel England threshold rises to 250 homes
Active Travel England’s residential referral threshold will rise from 150 to 250 dwellings. The current statutory requirement for commercial development will be removed.
New referral categories will be introduced for highway authority development requiring planning permission and school or college development involving a net floorspace increase of more than 750 square metres.
LPAs will still be encouraged to seek non-statutory advice on larger commercial schemes, cumulative impacts or development with significant local active-travel implications.
Historic England notifications are also being reduced
The Government will remove the requirement to notify Historic England of Grade II listed building consent applications except where total demolition is proposed. Notification requirements will remain for Grade I and Grade II* listed building consents.
The conservation-area notification threshold will increase from 1,000 square metres to 2,000 square metres. The Government also intends to align London’s listed-building-consent notification process with the arrangements used elsewhere in England.
These are notification reforms rather than a relaxation of the substantive heritage tests. The legal duties, national policy and the need for proper assessment of heritage significance and harm remain central.
Mining Remediation Authority to focus on higher-risk cases
The Mining Remediation Authority will use strengthened standing advice for lower-risk development so its statutory input can be focused on higher-risk proposals. It will also no longer routinely comment on the discharge of planning conditions, although coal-mining permits, validation requirements and national policy will continue to provide separate safeguards.
Ground conditions remain a material planning consideration and developers remain responsible for demonstrating that land is safe and suitable for the proposed use.
Section 102 of LURA 2023 is also moving towards commencement
Alongside the consultee reforms, the Government has confirmed its intention to implement section 102 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. This provision has not yet been commenced.
When brought into force, section 102 will insert a new statutory special-regard duty into the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for specified nationally important heritage assets. The duty extends beyond the existing listed-building and conservation-area regime and covers:
- scheduled monuments
- protected wreck sites
- registered parks and gardens
- registered battlefields
- World Heritage Sites
Decision-makers will have to give special regard to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the relevant asset or its setting when considering planning permission or permission in principle.
The practical point is that the removal of The Gardens Trust’s statutory-consultee status is being paired with a stronger statutory decision-making duty for registered parks and gardens. The two changes should not be confused: one concerns who must be consulted; the other concerns how the decision itself must be made.
Nothing changes until the implementing regulations take effect
The Government’s response is a policy decision, not the commencement instrument. It expressly states that regulations will follow in due course to implement the statutory consultee changes. Section 102 likewise requires commencement before the new heritage duty applies.
Until then, applicants and LPAs should continue to check the current legislation and directions rather than treating the 17 August announcement as though it had already amended Schedule 4.
What should applicants do now?
- continue applying the current statutory consultation rules until the implementing regulations commence
- for major schemes, anticipate the future National Highways and Active Travel England thresholds when preparing transport evidence
- do not assume that reduced Historic England notification removes the need for robust heritage evidence
- for registered parks and gardens, distinguish carefully between development within the asset and development affecting its setting
- watch for the commencement of section 102 because it will alter the statutory heritage decision-making framework
For the current process, see our guides to statutory consultees, planning application timescales and the National Planning Policy Framework.
Primary sources
Statutory consultee reforms published: 22nd August 2026
