Building planning capacity and capability
Details on the Planning Capacity and Capability Programme, which aims to strengthen planning capacity and capability across public sector planning.
Applies to England
Overview
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), working with planning sector partners, delivers the Planning Capacity and Capability Programme to provide local planning authorities with the people, skills and support needed to deliver effective planning services and implement planning reform.
Local planning authorities play a critical role in shaping places, supporting communities, and enabling the delivery of homes and infrastructure. Highly skilled planners are essential to delivering proactive, efficient planning services, supporting communities and shaping places, driving sustainable growth and implementing planning reform.
About the Programme
Following the 2025 Budget, the government committed an additional £48 million to strengthen planning capacity in the public sector, to be allocated across this Parliament. Of this, £28.8 million has been allocated to MHCLG’s Planning Capacity and Capability Programme. This supplements existing programme budgets, bringing total programme investment to around £30 million per year.
In total, the Programme now aims to deliver around 1,325 planners by the end of this Parliament, significantly exceeding the original manifesto commitment to deliver 300 new planning officers. Wider cross-government recruitment and investment in planning capacity and capability will increase this figure further to approximately 1,400 recruitments across the planning system.
What the programme delivers
Recruiting new planners
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Pathways to Planning – a two‑year, on-the-job graduate training programme delivered by the Local Government Association, combining paid placements in councils with accredited postgraduate training. In 2026/27, MHCLG is investing around £12 million in Pathways to Planning, including support towards salary and educational bursaries. As of October 2026, 308 graduates have been placed into local planning authorities and statutory consultees under this government.
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Public Practice – a social enterprise specialising in placing experienced built-environment professionals into public sector roles. In 2026/27, over £2 million is being provided, including targeted salary support for eligible councils. As of October 2026, 112 Public Practice Associates have been placed in 60 local planning authorities under this government.
Developing skills and leadership
- Planning Advisory Service (PAS) – funded with around £3.2 million in 2026/27 to deliver specialist training, peer learning, leadership support and tailored advice to help LPAs implement planning reforms effectively. We fund PAS to support LPAs, ensuring planners are well prepared to deliver effectively in a reformed system.
Strengthening the planning workforce
- MHCLG is developing support for graduate, mid-career and experienced professionals as part of wider plans to expand recruitment routes and strengthen planning capacity across local and regional government.
Supporting delivery and performance
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Following the publication of the revised National Planning Policy Framework on 12 December 2024, the government awarded over £29 million in grant funding to help local planning authorities meet new policy requirements efficiently and effectively. This included over £9 million to support local planning authorities with the costs of undertaking Green Belt reviews, and over £19 million to support local planning authorities at Regulation 18 or 19 stage with local plan delivery.
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In 2025/26, MHCLG also awarded over £15.7 million in further local plan implementation funding, and c.£30 million of initial funding to support the preparation of spatial development strategies and support new strategic planning capacity.
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In 2026, our programme provided funding to support development management services, including over £9 million awarded to LPAs with high growth potential and large volumes of major residential schemes at the post-outline stage, helping to speed up decisions and unlock delivery. See further details on the successful local authorities.
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To accelerate large-scale development, ATLAS (the Advisory Team for Large Applications) has been established as a partnership between MHCLG and Homes England. Hosted within Homes England, the multidisciplinary team supports local authorities to unblock complex planning issues as part of the New Homes Accelerator.
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In London, the Capacity and Capability Programme is also funding ATLAS LDN, a service led by the Greater London Authority that provides coordinated planning capacity and expertise to unlock live and pipeline sites in the capital. ATLAS LDN was launched in January 2026 alongside New Homes Accelerator London.
Long‑term sustainability
The Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 introduced new powers enabling local planning authorities to set their own planning application fees through a local variation model. We have also laid draft regulations which, subject to Parliamentary approval, will increase national planning fees before the end of the year. These reforms are intended to help councils recover costs, reinvest in planning services and improve the long-term sustainability of the planning system.
Evidence and engagement
We gather quantitative and qualitative evidence through continuous user research, sector engagement and our delivery partners.
Our annual sector surveys provide insight into workforce capacity, skills gaps, and recruitment and retention challenges across local planning authorities. These findings help shape programme delivery and future support.
We complement this evidence through regular engagement with local authorities, working groups, delivery partners and sector stakeholders, helping us understand emerging challenges and ensure our interventions remain focused on the needs of the planning profession and wider planning system.
In 2023, the programme launched the Local authority planning capacity and skills survey, which established a baseline picture of workforce pressures across the planning sector.
The local authority planning capacity and capability survey 2025 continued to track changes in recruitment, retention and skills pressures.
The 2026 Planning Capacity and Capability Survey concluded in April 2026 and findings are being analysed.