Lewisham's Governance Committee was scheduled to review potential changes to planning regulations that could trigger committee reviews based on the number of objections received. These changes would specify that town and country planning and development matters will be reserved to Planning Committees A and B under certain conditions.

However, the meeting was adjourned on Wednesday, 15 October 2025, due to a lack of quorum. The chair declared that the meeting was adjourned to a date to be fixed . The process for rescheduling is not specified in the provided information.

According to the meeting's Public Reports Pack, the committee was set to discuss amendments to the Scheme of Delegation regarding town and country planning matters. The Governance Committee Report indicated that the provisions were unintentionally omitted during the adoption of the new Constitution at the Annual General Meeting on May 7, 2025.

The proposed changes would reserve certain planning decisions to the Planning Committees A and B, specifically:

  • When there are ten or more valid planning objections.
  • When there is one or more objections from a member of the Council.
  • When the application is for development not in accordance with the approved development plan documents or other approved planning policies.
  • When the Council's Director of Planning believes the matter would be more appropriately dealt with by the relevant committee.
  • Consideration of planning matters relating to the demolition of any building that is in use as a public house, or which is currently unoccupied but was in use as a public house immediately prior to becoming unoccupied. All decisions relating to neighbourhood planning under Part 6 Localism Act 2011 in so far as they are non-executive functions and not reserved to full Council unless specifically delegated to officers.
  • Any decision not automatically reserved to Planning Committee A or B by virtue of criteria 1-5 above but which receives an objection from an amenity society, will have its suitability for referral to a Planning Committee determined by the Director of Planning in consultation with the Chairs of both committees (or Vice[1]Chairs in their absence) in a Chairs' Briefing. Amenity societies must be formally constituted and meet the terms of the London Forum for Amenity and Civic Societies.

The Public Reports Pack indicated that these provisions were previously contained in the Constitution but were omitted from the current version. The committee was to consider including the omitted wording in the published version of the Constitution.

The meeting's Agenda also included items such as a review of the council's constitution and declarations of interest from members. Councillors Susan Wise, James-J Walsh (Cabinet Member for Inclusive Regeneration and Planning), Sophie Davis, Aisha Malik-Smith, Jacq Paschoud, Hau-Yu Tam (Deputy Leader of the Lewisham Green Group), and Emma Campbell Smith were scheduled to attend.

According to the Public Reports Pack, the proposed changes were supported by members during a Constitution Workshop held on 22 September 2025.