East Suffolk scraps three planning committees for one

Why it matters: The changes affect how planning applications are decided across East Suffolk, including Martlesham, Rushmere and other communities around Ipswich, with officers making more decisions than councillors, and no public meeting, speaking rights, or vote for those that are delegated.

The details: Report ES/2927, brought by Cllr Mark Packard, cabinet member for planning and coastal management, asked Full Council to comply with the Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026, which come into force on 31 October and apply to every planning authority in England.

Councillors voted to approve the reforms after an amendment from deputy leader Cllr Paul Ashton increased the size of the new committee from the 11 members originally proposed to 13. The amendment followed calls from Cllr Paul Ashdown for a larger committee, and council leader Cllr Caroline Topping had earlier said she was "perfectly happy" to go back up to 13 if that was what members wanted.

The reforms also rewrite the council's scheme of delegation, the rulebook that decides which applications reach a committee at all. Under the changes:

• A "referral panel" will continue, but as an advisory forum, with the final decision on whether an application goes to committee made by the "Nominated Officer".
• Decisions on whether a development needs an Environmental Impact Assessment will be made by the case officer.
• The new committee will meet monthly to determine planning applications, and quarterly to carry out its strategic functions.

What they're saying: Cllr Topping said the reason for moving to a single committee was that many meetings had been cancelled because there was not enough business, and that it would be better to have 11 "very passionate members" at every meeting, with others able to substitute in. She said the referral panel would continue, adding that many councils do not have one.

Cllr Ashdown said he supported the reforms but wanted 13 members so the public would see a "wider choice", noting that a single committee had always been the long-term aim since East Suffolk Council was formed.

Deputy leader Cllr Ashton said many councillors do not like the direction the government is taking on planning, and that he believed both its diagnosis of the problem and its proposed fix were wrong.

The other side: Cllr Julia Ewart had intended to move an amendment deferring the decision to October, but the chair refused to accept it, ruling it invalid because there is no Full Council meeting in October and the November meeting would fall after the regulations take effect. The amendment had described the proposals as "a substantial constitutional change, presented through highly technical material running to more than 8,000 words," and said the main papers were not available until around 4pm on Friday, 18 September, leaving three clear working days before the meeting. Cllr Ewart spoke against the proposals anyway, urging councillors to defer.

Cllr Amanda Folley said she would abstain, telling the meeting she has ADHD and that it was "absolutely awful" to receive the papers this late; she said she does not sit on a planning committee and does not understand the proposals.

Cllr Gee said she could not support the reforms, saying "the plan went far beyond what was absolutely necessary" and that she felt some independence would be lost.

Cllr Ninnmey said he found the reforms "very concerning" and asked for more support for parish councils.

Cllr Peter Byatt asked whether the council could instead have two planning committees of 13 members. The council's report states that abolishing all three existing committees is necessary because the Strategic Planning Committee has 19 members and could not lawfully determine applications after 31 October. However, Ipswich.co.uk's reading of the regulations is that they limit the number of members on each committee rather than the number of committees, meaning two area committees of 13 might have been lawful – a point Cllr Topping did not address during the debate.

For context: The council's own figures put the refusal rate at 14.08% for committee decisions, against 7.61% for delegated ones. Deputy leader Cllr Ashton, responding to concerns about the timing of the papers, said much of the same information had been made available in July, and that officers want to help councillors understand the changes, though he acknowledged some changes have occurred in the time that has passed.

What's next: The reforms take effect on 31 October 2026, when the three existing committees are abolished and the new 13-member Planning Committee, along with the revised scheme of delegation, comes into force.

The bottom line: East Suffolk's planning decisions will be made differently from 31 October, with a single 13-member committee replacing three and more applications decided by officers rather than councillors, after a debate in which several members said they had not had enough time to understand the changes before voting on them.

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