Councillors voted 6-3 to put the inspector's Local Plan changes out to consultation. Full Council decides next; its next scheduled meeting is 8 December.
Epsom and Ewell’s draft Local Plan is still alive. On Tuesday night councillors voted by six to three to recommend that the inspector’s changes go out to public consultation. They did not take the other option in front of them, which was to ask Full Council to withdraw the plan from examination.
The changes are the ones we set out on 15 September: a housing target raised from 4,700 to at least 6,012 homes, and sixteen new sites, four of them in the Green Belt. Our full rundown of the inspector’s changes lists every site.
The same meeting heard something new. The government has told the council to start work on its next Local Plan now, while this one is still at examination. Officers estimate that would cost about £1 million, and no money has been set aside for it.
How the committee voted
The Licensing and Planning Policy Committee met on 22 September. Its printed decisions, published on 23 September, record four separate votes on the plan:
- 7 for, 2 against: to note the inspector’s proposed main modifications and the revised policies maps
- 6 for, 3 against: to recommend to Full Council a statutory public consultation of at least six weeks
- 5 for, 4 against: to let the Head of Planning Policy, with the committee chair, make any further amendments the inspector asks for after the consultation
- 5 for, 4 against: to let the same officer update the Local Development Scheme, the council’s published timetable for the plan
The last two were the closest votes of the night. The timetable needs updating because it still gives adoption as spring 2026, according to the committee report. The report puts the delay down to the extra evidence the inspector asked for.
The decisions can be called in by the Audit and Scrutiny Committee. The notice says they take effect after five clear working days unless that happens. Audit and Scrutiny next meets on 29 September.
Why it cannot start yet
The committee can only recommend. Full Council has to agree before the consultation opens. The report is clear that councillors cannot change the inspector’s wording at that stage either. The consultation is the inspector asking for views on changes she considers necessary to make the plan sound.
The next Full Council on the council’s meeting calendar is 8 December 2026. No special meeting had been listed when we checked on 25 September. If the consultation waits for December, six weeks takes it into the second half of January 2027.
That timing matters because Epsom and Ewell Borough Council is abolished on 1 April 2027, when East Surrey Council takes over. After the consultation, every response goes to the inspector. She then writes her final report, and a Full Council has to decide whether to adopt the plan as she has modified it.
The report explains why officers wanted to press on. Epsom and Ewell has the oldest Local Plan of the five councils merging into East Surrey: its Core Strategy dates from 2007. Officers warn that delay “increases the risk of speculative planning applications”. Appeals against refusals, “especially those held as public inquiries, are expensive”.
The government wants a second plan started too
A separate report to the same meeting set out a letter the council received from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 20 August.
New plan-making regulations came into force on 25 March 2026. The report says they required the council to:
- publish a notice of intention to start a new Local Plan by 30 June 2026
- pass the first “gateway”, a self-assessment of readiness, by 31 October 2026
The council wrote back on 28 April raising three problems: the current plan is still at examination, it does not have the staff, and reorganisation leaves it unclear who would own a new plan. The ministry’s August reply accepts that running two plans at once “creates resource pressures”. It does not accept reorganisation as a reason to wait. Government guidance published on 6 July says “forthcoming local government reorganisation is not a reason to delay plan-making”.
The report also sets out what can happen if a council does not comply. The Secretary of State has powers under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 to issue directions or take over preparing the plan.
What a new plan would cost
Officers estimate a review of the Local Plan would cost about £1 million, plus staff time. No budget has been allocated for it.
The report also lists what the current plan has drawn from the council’s corporate projects reserve:
- £75,000 in September 2019
- £712,000 in March 2021
- £629,000 in December 2023
That is £1,416,000 in all. The reserve’s uncommitted balance stands at about £1.5 million, the report says. Taking another £1 million from it “would significantly reduce the available balance available for Council priorities”, in the finance officer’s words. Any spending over £100,000 would also have to be ratified by the East Surrey shadow authority.
The committee voted 7 to 2 to note the ministry’s letter. It also agreed that officers should ask to meet the chief executive and the planning lead of the East Surrey shadow authority. The aim is to settle how to meet the requirement before reorganisation, and the outcome will come back to a future meeting.
What it means for you
- The consultation is not open yet. Nothing you send now counts. It opens only after Full Council agrees.
- When it opens, you will have at least six weeks. Comments can only be on the inspector’s changes, not the plan as a whole. Papers will be online, at the Town Hall and in the borough’s libraries.
- If you live near Downs Farm, Priest Hill or Cuddington Glade, these are the Green Belt sites the changes add. The consultation will be the last formal chance to comment on them before the inspector’s final report.
- The date that decides the timetable is the Full Council meeting. Watch for a special meeting before 8 December; we will report it when one is called.
What happens next
- 29 September: Audit and Scrutiny Committee meets; the committee’s decisions can be called in until they take effect
- 8 December: the next scheduled Full Council, unless a special meeting is called sooner
- After consultation: responses go to the inspector, who writes her final report
- 1 April 2027: Epsom and Ewell Borough Council is replaced by East Surrey Council
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