About the panel

The Design Review Panel (DRP) is made up of a group of independent professionals working in the built environment field. It advises us on design issues relating to new development schemes and proposals for public spaces, including major planning applications and pre-application development proposals.

Built environment experts are appointed by the council to sit on the Panel and this is reviewed and refreshed periodically. The council is moving towards a renewal of its membership in the near future. A new process for advertising and appointing panel members is being developed by the council. Details will be posted on this website in due course.

Panel meetings

The Panel has moved away from pre-scheduled review meetings and holds reviews as and when suitable schemes are received by us at the pre-application stage. When meetings are scheduled, they will be posted here and alerts posted on the Design Review Panel meeting list.

Panel meetings are held virtually using Zoom. This has proved successful and more flexible than meeting in person. Meetings will continue using Zoom for the foreseeable future. Some types of Panel meeting may lend themselves to in-person meetings and this will be considered on a case by case basis.

The Panel generally only reviews pre-application development proposals These are not held in public. When these proposals are submitted as a full planning application, the notes will become available for public viewing on Planning Explorer. When the Panel reviews proposals that are at the full planning application stage, the review will be recorded and subsequently posted on the council's YouTube channel for later public viewing.

Scheduled Panel meetings for the current year are shown below. When nothing is shown, no meetings have yet taken place. Previous meetings can be viewed here.

Fees for reviews

In line with good practice and how other Panels operate, on 18 December 2023 the council’s Cabinet resolved to charge applicants for reviews and to pay reviewers for their work. Reviewers will be paid £335 per meeting. Fees and payments will be reviewed each year to account for inflation. The table below sets out the different types of review and the fees for each.

Paying for a review

Applicants must pay for their review in advance of the review meeting. Following discussion with us, the applicant will have received a formal invitation to review and know which fee applies. Reviews must be paid for on-line using the buttons in the table above.

Accountability

As part of the ongoing changes to the operation of the Panel, on 18 December 2023 the council’s Cabinet approved a new Code of Conduct for all those involved in the Merton Design Review Panel. This can be viewed and downloaded below.

Merton DRP code of conduct

Whilst reviews are currently held electronically, the Code of Conduct is written to include in-person meetings.

Panel members page

Panel members review the plans and proposals as submitted by the applicants. These are uploaded electronically to this webpage for Panel members to view and assess in advance of the review meeting. This is a password protected webpage that only Panel members can access. Panel members can login using the link below:

Log in to the panel members' page

2024 meetings

The Merton Design Review Panel has currently moved away from pre-scheduled review meetings and will now hold reviews as and when suitable schemes are received by us at the pre-application stage. When meetings are scheduled, they will be posted on the webpage and alerts posted on ModernGov as usual. Browse meetings of the Design Review Panel.