Cabinet considered a revised Statement of Community Involvement on 22 October 2026, reflecting new national planning regulations that from 31 October 2026 will change how planning applications are decided in the borough.
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s Cabinet considered a revised Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) at its meeting on 22 October 2026, setting out how residents and other bodies will be consulted on planning matters going forward.
Why the document needed updating
The council’s previous SCI dated from 2020. Officers said the update was required to reflect a series of national policy changes, including five revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework since 2020, the most recent published on 17 August 2026, and new plan-making regulations that came into force on 25 March 2026. A further significant change is the new National Scheme of Delegation, introduced by regulations made on 15 July 2026, which comes into effect on 31 October 2026 and alters how planning applications are categorised and decided.
What the new scheme of delegation means for residents
Under the new system, planning applications are divided into two tiers. Schedule 1 applications — covering householder works, minor residential and minor commercial development, and technical consents such as discharge of planning conditions — must always be decided by officers rather than by the Planning Committee. Schedule 2 applications cover major schemes of ten or more dwellings, sites of more than 0.5 hectares, commercial floorspace exceeding 1,000 square metres, listed building applications, advertisement applications and tree preservation order applications. Schedule 2 applications are also delegated to officers by default, but may be referred to the Planning Committee if they pass a statutory referral test based on economic, social or environmental significance or significant planning matters.
Public consultation findings
A public consultation on the draft SCI ran between 10 April and 22 May 2026 and received 12 responses — six from statutory consultees or specialist bodies, two from parish or town councils, one from a local society and three from individuals. A separate scoping consultation for the Local Plan Review, which ran from 14 July to 11 August 2026, also raised questions about engagement.
The most prominent issue raised in both consultations was the reduced availability of paper copies of planning documents. Officers noted that during the adoption of the current Local Plan, more than 65,000 pages were printed and distributed across the borough, but recorded viewing rates were low: six people viewed paper copies across 16 parish and town councils, and six people viewed copies across nine borough libraries. In response to the concerns raised, the updated SCI states that paper copies will be provided free of charge to parish and town councils on request, and may be purchased by other groups or individuals.
Recommendations put to Cabinet
Officers recommended that Cabinet approve the draft SCI dated October 2026 for use in engagement relating to planning matters, and that the Head of Planning, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, be authorised to make editorial and non-material changes before online publication.
The council had not published the minutes of the meeting at the time of writing, so the committee’s decision is not yet on the public record.