Sutton Council will explain the new planning rules at a free briefing on 20 October, 7pm, at the Civic Offices. Tickets needed; recorded, not streamed.

Sutton Council is holding a free public briefing on the national planning changes that take away most of its Planning Committee’s decisions. It is on Tuesday 20 October, from 7pm to 8.30pm, at the Civic Offices on St Nicholas Way.

The council announced it on Thursday in a statement from its leader, Councillor Barry Lewis, under the headline “Government denies Sutton residents a voice”.

How to go

The details on the council’s Eventbrite booking page:

  • When: Tuesday 20 October 2026, 7pm to 8.30pm
  • Where: Meeting Room G1, Civic Offices, St Nicholas Way, Sutton SM1 1EA
  • Cost: free, but you must reserve a ticket to get in
  • Seats: limited, and allocated first come, first served
  • Can’t make it? The meeting is in person only and will not be live-streamed. It will be recorded, and the council says the recording will go on sutton.gov.uk afterwards.

Tickets were still on sale when we checked on Saturday morning.

What the briefing is about

From 31 October, national regulations decide who makes most planning decisions in England. Under SI 2026/854, a council officer must decide householder applications, minor commercial schemes and housing schemes of one to nine homes. Larger applications go to an officer by default too. They reach a committee only if a nominated councillor and a nominated officer both agree that they are significant.

There is no longer any automatic route to committee based on the number of objections. We set out exactly what changes, application type by application type, in our report on the new rules.

Timeline of Sutton's planning dates in autumn 2026: 15 October, draft London Plan consultation closes at 5pm, with Sutton's draft ten-year target of 4,781 homes from 2027/28; 19 October, Full Council at 7pm; 20 October, the council's public briefing from 7pm to 8.30pm in Meeting Room G1 at the Civic Offices, free with a ticket and recorded; 31 October, the national scheme of delegation comes into force; 4 November, the first Planning Committee under the new rules
Graphic by Sutton Online, from Sutton Council, the Eventbrite listing, SI 2026/854 and the Mayor of London's draft London Plan.
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What the council leader says

Cllr Lewis’s statement calls the new rules “not fair”. He says they shut residents and elected councillors “out of the decision-making process for all but the most significant applications”.

The statement makes three points:

  • most applications will be decided by officers “without the option of a councillor call-in”, or a chance for residents to put their case to the committee
  • the number of objections “will no longer automatically guarantee” a committee hearing
  • officers already decide many applications and do weigh objections, but he calls the change “an erosion of local democracy”

He also criticises the Mayor of London’s draft London Plan. He says it cuts affordable housing targets for Sutton and gives City Hall power to overturn the council’s decisions on major schemes. In his words, that hands developers a “second bite of the cherry”.

The council accepts it cannot stop the regulations. “We can’t stop these changes from coming into force but we want to help explain what they mean for our area,” the statement says.

The London Plan deadline comes first

The draft London Plan is out for consultation until 5pm on Thursday 15 October, five days before the briefing.

Table 3.1 of its housing chapter gives Sutton a ten-year target of 4,781 homes for 2027/28 to 2036/37, all on brownfield land. The same chapter keeps a London-wide strategic target of 50 per cent affordable housing.

If you want to respond on the London Plan, you cannot wait for the briefing to do it.

What it means for you

  • If you object to planning applications, book a seat or watch the recording. From 31 October the way an objection reaches a public hearing changes completely.
  • Objections still count. An officer must weigh material planning objections just as a committee would. What goes is the automatic hearing.
  • If you have an application of your own for an extension or a small housing scheme, expect an officer, not the committee, to decide it.
  • Comment on the London Plan by 5pm on 15 October on the Mayor’s consultation page.

We track new applications on our Sutton planning applications page.

Sources