Lambeth Council Approves Sweeping Constitutional Changes to Boost Accountability and Streamline Governance
Lambeth Council has approved significant changes to its constitution, aiming to enhance democratic accountability and streamline governance processes. The meeting on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, saw councillors debate and vote on a series of proposed amendments for the 2026-27 period, impacting planning decisions, motions of no confidence, and committee structures.
National Planning Scheme Sparks Debate
A key, and contentious, change is the adoption of a national scheme of delegation for planning decisions. This move is necessitated by The Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026,
which mandate that all local planning authorities (LPAs) in England must operate planning committee arrangements in accordance with these regulations and associated statutory guidance from 31st October 2026. Failure to comply with the National Scheme of Delegation (NSoD) could expose committee decisions to judicial review challenges.
Under the NSoD, applications within Schedule 1 of the regulations must be determined by officers. Applications within Schedule 2 are also presumed to be delegated to officers but can be referred to the Planning Applications Committee (PAC) if both the nominated officer and member agree the application raises significant economic, social, or environmental issues for the local area, or significant planning matters. Crucially, local arrangements such as councillor call-in and automatic committee-referral triggers will no longer apply in their current form.
This shift drew strong opposition from some councillors. Councillor Serafina Spicer (Green) voiced strong disapproval, deeming the new scheme undemocratic and potentially beneficial to developers. She argued that it removes ward councillors' rights to raise proposed developments with the planning committee based on public objections and expressed concerns that the changes are designed to benefit developers rather than solve the housing crisis. Councillor Simon Cordon (Liberal Democrats) echoed these sentiments, regretting the yet further deterioration in the democratic accountability of planning
and questioning where will it end?
Despite these concerns, the council acknowledged the necessity of adhering to statutory guidance, and the changes were approved with the aim of strengthening governance and ensuring greater transparency and accountability.
Enhanced Transparency with New Cabinet Committees
Discussions also centred on the establishment of new Cabinet Committees, intended to act as advisory bodies on executive matters. Their mandate includes reviewing Key Decisions published on the Forward Plan, scrutinising the performance of executive functions, and preparing reports and recommendations to the Leader, Cabinet Members, the Cabinet, and/or Officers to aid in policy framework development. These committees will also review their terms of reference annually and produce an annual work programme and report.
The establishment of these committees is expected to enhance transparency and accountability by strengthening democratic participation of members in the decision-making process, fostering a more collaborative governance structure, and supporting lawful and financially responsible governance. Councillor Danial Adilypour stated that the changes would give greater transparency and accountability to residents as to what happens in this chamber,
while Councillor Alan Andrews viewed the proposed committees as the best alternative to a full committee system, enhancing accountability and transparency.
Increased Resident Participation and Political Assistant Posts
Further constitutional adjustments include the implementation of reduced thresholds for petitions and deputations, aiming to encourage greater resident participation. The threshold for a petition to require a senior officer to be called to account at a public meeting has been lowered from 1,500 to 750 signatures, and for a petition to be debated at Full Council, it has been reduced from 3,000 to 1,000 signatures. For deputations, the threshold has been lowered from 20 persons to 10 persons. Councillor Spicer expressed disappointment that these changes, which she believes would have validated previously submitted petitions, couldn't have been implemented sooner.
Additionally, the council debated the creation of up to three political assistant posts. The selection of individuals for these posts is a matter for the relevant political group. The proposed roles have been evaluated using the Council's standard job evaluation scheme, resulting in a grade of PO2. Remuneration will be subject to statutory maximums. An objective assessment of the hours required for each post will be carried out by the Director of HR & OD and the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Leader of each group, considering factors like committee commitments and casework volume. The confirmed grade and hours for all posts will be reported back to the General Purposes Committee for transparency. However, specific metrics for assessing the effectiveness and fairness of these posts across all political groups were not detailed beyond this evaluation process.
Finally, the rules governing the debate of motions were also streamlined to improve efficiency.