The national statutory changes dictate that some planning applications will now be automatically decided outside of the Planning Committee, following agreed guidance from both national planning policies and Wandsworth's local policies. Councillors on the Planning Committee will now concentrate on larger applications and those that would significantly benefit from the input and scrutiny of elected councillors.
Routine and smaller applications, such as householder applications, residential schemes of up to nine dwellings on sites below 0.5 hectares, and minor commercial developments, will be decided by council officials. Residents, community groups, and businesses can still submit comments on applications in the usual manner, and all relevant planning issues raised will be considered before a decision is made. Local councillors remain available to discuss local issues and concerns.
The number of objections will no longer automatically trigger a committee referral, even with significant local opposition. Ward councillors will also no longer have the ability to require an application to be called in.
“"This is a major change imposed nationally upon us by government - not one this Council would ever volunteer to make. It is not clear what problem it is intending to fix - in Wandsworth our committee does not hold up decisions or make them inconsistently. Our approval rate is consistently high and demonstrates our openness to quality development in the borough. We will continue working closely with our planning officers to ensure residents' views are heard during the decision-making process."
The final Planning Committee under the previous rules took place on Thursday, 22 October. The new 'delegation' rules, which necessitated a change to the Council's Constitution during a Full Council meeting on 21 October 2026, will take effect for decisions made from 1 November.
