Sutton has £295,128 of developer money still to allocate. The Neighbourhood Fund project lists go to local committees this autumn, starting in Carshalton on Tuesday.

Sutton Council is sitting on £295,127.55 of developer money that has been collected for community projects and not yet promised to any of them. Where it goes is decided in part at local committee meetings, and the first of the autumn round is in Carshalton on Tuesday evening.

The money is the Neighbourhood Fund, which is the council’s friendlier name for the neighbourhood share of the Community Infrastructure Levy. Developers building new homes or retail space in the borough pay the levy, and a share of it has to be spent on priorities agreed with the communities where the building happened.

The figures, from the council’s own database

The council publishes live totals in its developer contributions database. As at 7 September 2026, for Neighbourhood CIL:

Amount
Collected £2,902,076.18
Spent £1,830,457.39
Allocated but not yet spent £776,491.24
Available to allocate £295,127.55
Due from developers £122,325.25
Potential from live liability notices £1,137,340.76

The strategic pot, which the council spends on borough-wide infrastructure rather than neighbourhood projects, is far larger: £15,623,519.07 collected, with £618,437.55 still available.

This year’s bids are in, and the lists are late

The 2026 project submission window closed on 2 August 2026. The council’s Neighbourhood Fund page says the submissions are being assessed and that it will be “publishing the full list to each of the Local Committee areas over the summer in time for the autumn Committee cycle”.

The autumn cycle has started, and no list has appeared with it. The Sutton South, Cheam and Belmont Local Committee met on 3 September with a Neighbourhood Fund item on the agenda and no report published against it. Tuesday’s Carshalton and Clockhouse agenda is the same: item 8 is a verbal “update on engagement with the Neighbourhood Fund and how to get involved”, with no papers.

So if you want to know which projects in your area are in the running, the meeting is currently the only place to ask.

The autumn committee dates

Every local committee meets at 7pm. Agendas appear on the council’s committee system in the week before each meeting.

  • Tuesday 8 September: Carshalton and Clockhouse, at Hillcrest Hall, 42 Fryston Avenue. The postal address is Coulsdon, but the hall is inside the borough, in Carshalton South and Clockhouse ward.
  • Thursday 17 September: Hackbridge, St Helier and The Wrythe, proposed venue Horizon Church, Assembly Walk, Carshalton SM5 1JH.
  • Tuesday 13 October: North Cheam, Stonecot and Worcester Park.
  • Thursday 15 October: Sutton Local Committee.
  • Thursday 5 November: Beddington and Wallington.
  • Thursday 26 November: Sutton South, Cheam and Belmont. Its autumn meeting was on 3 September, so this is the next chance to raise it there.

What the fund actually paid for last year

The 2025 round funded 36 projects across the borough. Among them, in the council’s own summary:

  • replacement and inclusive play equipment at Grove Park, Rosehill Park, Cheam Rec and Cuddington Rec
  • restoration work at Horseshoe Pond to protect rare aquatic habitats, and a wildflower meadow at The Warren Rec
  • estate fencing and flint wall repairs at St Nicholas Churchyard, security fencing at Roundshaw Playing Fields to stop motorbike damage to the grass pitches, and height restriction barriers at Nonsuch Park
  • a second access ramp at Hill House community centre, and rainwater harvesting at Lenham Road Community Garden fed from the multi-storey car park
  • a mobile classroom for PlayWise Wallington’s work with parents and carers of neurodivergent children
  • Radio St Helier expanding its broadcast visits to care homes for residents living with dementia

At the Carshalton committee in June, the Friends of Oaks Park described using the fund to make the Bakehouse in Oaks Park watertight after years of disrepair, and told residents thinking of applying not to be put off, according to the minutes of that meeting.

What it will not fund

The council’s published rules exclude:

  • projects outside the borough, unless the area is Sutton’s shared responsibility
  • anything a statutory agency would normally pay for
  • political parties, lobbying and campaigning
  • promotion of religion, or of private interests
  • bus and car hire, loans, interest payments and legal costs

What it means for you

  • Turn up on Tuesday if you are in Carshalton or Clockhouse. Item 8 is the Neighbourhood Fund update, and a representative from Sutton Housing Partnership is there from 6pm to 6.50pm before the meeting starts.
  • Submit a written question rather than hoping to be called. Questions sent at least five working days before a meeting get a written answer published in advance, and you get a follow-up in the room. Later than that and the answer comes after the meeting. Your name is published either way.
  • Email the team if you have a project in mind. The council asks people to contact planningobligations@sutton.gov.uk before applying, and says it will help with the application.
  • The next application window is in the spring. The 2026 one has closed. There is an email sign-up on the council’s Neighbourhood Fund page for the 2027 dates.
  • Check whether your idea is infrastructure. The fund pays for physical improvements that address the pressure new development puts on an area, not for running costs.

Bar chart of Sutton's Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy as at 7 September 2026: £2,902,076 collected, of which £1,830,457 has been spent, £776,491 is allocated but not yet spent, and £295,128 is available to allocate

If a scheme near you is what generated the money in the first place, our page on planning applications in Sutton explains how to find it and how to comment while it is still open.

Sources