The disagreement at Monday’s Full Council meeting (July 14) comes as Sutton grapples with a deepening housing shortage, with some residents facing waits of up to ten years for a home.
The debate was triggered by a Conservative motion, introduced by opposition leader Councillor Neil Garratt, calling for firmer protections for Sutton’s 616 hectares of green belt.
Most of this land lies in the Little Woodcote and Cuddington areas and includes farmland, woodland, golf courses, and parts of Sutton’s iconic lavender fields.
Conservative councillors argued the borough must take a clear stand against possible government and mayoral reforms that could lead to mass development on protected land.
They cited London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s recent proposal to allow large-scale housing schemes—10,000 homes or more—on ‘low-quality’ green belt sites across the capital. The motion stated that Sutton’s Local Plan should “not include, allow, or require any use of our local green belt”.
But the Liberal Democrat majority amended the motion, arguing that its original wording would breach national planning policy and could result in Sutton losing control of development decisions to City Hall. The revised version, which passed with the Lib Dems’ support, committed instead to “robustly protect Sutton’s green belt” while complying with regional and national planning rules.
Councillor Jake Short, Chair of the Housing, Economy and Business Committee, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the Conservative proposal “could have handed over control to the Mayor”, making it easier for City Hall to override local objections.
Council Leader Barry Lewis went further, telling the LDRS it would have been “a huge mistake” that opened the door to “inappropriate developments” being waved through by external authorities.
“We stopped the Conservatives from causing a green belt building disaster just to score political points,” he said.
Despite disagreements over the best route forward, both parties expressed a strong desire to protect local green space.
Conservative Councillor Moira Butt, who represents Carshalton South and Clockhouse, described her ward as home to “sheep and horses grazing, thriving lavender fields, golf clubs,” and added: “I am well aware we need more homes, but at the expense of our green belt? I don’t think so.”
Newly elected Lib Dem councillor Lisa Webster, also representing Carshalton South and Clockhouse, acknowledged the urgent demand for housing but cautioned against a one-size-fits-all approach to releasing protected land.
“We wish to protect the green belt, but we know that it may be required of us to release some small portions,” she said. “If we don’t have a local plan that we control, we will have things imposed on us.”
Sutton now joins a growing number of outer London boroughs pushing back against Sadiq Khan’s green belt proposals. While the Mayor argues that such developments are necessary to address London’s severe housing shortage, estimated at 88,000 homes per year, he currently faces resistance from several local councils.
However, not all voices in the chamber opposed development. Labour councillor Sheldon Vestey supported the party line and argued that Sutton could not meet housing needs through town centre densification alone. “We go denser and denser with fewer amenities,” he said.
“We say we don’t want to be Croydon, but we won’t look at other land. Make that make sense.”
He added: “We are sitting here thinking that we can’t build on green spaces, but we can, we should. We just need to do it well.”
Despite the emotive nature of the issue, the green belt debate is unlikely to go away any time soon. Sutton’s neighbour, Conservative-led Croydon Council, is expected to debate a similar motion this week, further highlighting the growing tension between local autonomy and regional housing targets.
