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More County Durham planning decisions will be taken by officers, while one committee replaces four under new government legislation.
Durham County Council is making the changes to comply with the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, which creates a national system for delegating planning decisions.
Cllr Andrew Husband, leader of Durham County Council, said: "The changes we are introducing to our planning committee structure are in response to legislation set by national government.
"We know that transparency, efficiency and timeliness are crucial to an effective planning system and we remain committed to delivering this in County Durham."
More planning applications, including smaller household, residential and commercial schemes, will now be decided by officers rather than councillors.
The aim is to make planning decisions more consistent across England.
The legislation also caps planning committees at 13 members.
The council previously had four planning committees, each with 12 members, involving 48 councillors in planning decisions.
They have now been replaced by one 11-member committee.
The council said 11 members would preserve political balance, focus debate and help decisions be made on time without deadlocked votes.
The new committee will handle planning applications, highways, rights of way, common land and town and village greens.
It will meet monthly on planning matters and quarterly on highways issues.
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The change will cut meetings from 52 a year to 16.
The council said it would cut costs and ease pressure on resources.
Officers will decide most applications, but some cases can still go to the committee.
They include council applications, joint applications with partner organisations, and major housing or commercial schemes with significant economic, social or environmental effects on the area.