“Making sure we get the right growth in the right places”

“Making sure we get the right growth in the right places”

July 23, 2019

Lucy Howard, Planning Policy Manager for the South Downs National Park, reflects on the adoption of the National Park’s first Local Plan.

It was a historic moment. The South Downs Local Plan was adopted at a Full Authority meeting of the National Park Authority on July 2, 2019, replacing more than 1,000 Local Plan policies previously covering the National Park.

In a nutshell, the Local Plan puts our nationally important landscapes first and will ensure they sit at the heart of every planning decision we make. Putting the landscape first means making sure we get the right growth in the right places.

This will both protect our landscapes and support our communities to flourish, providing better places to live and work for the 116,000 people who call the South Downs National Park home.

Rigorous scrutiny has been at the very heart of creating this strategy. It’s gone through a number of drafts, each being tested along the way by research, evidence and public consultation.

More than 10,000 comments have been received as the draft Plan has developed and evolved since 2014.

The National Park Authority would like to thank everyone who contributed to the formulation of the Plan either by writing in or coming along to one of our consultation events.

Community involvement has been key. The Plan includes over 50 Neighbourhood Plans developed by South Downs communities – each one providing local development management policies and allocating land for development.

The Plan will deliver multiple ecosystem services, which are the goods and services we get from nature such as clean water, food and air.  All planning applications now submitted in the National Park will need to demonstrate how they will have an overall positive impact on the ability of the natural environment to provide goods and services.

There are strategic policies that will protect our landscapes including dark night skies and tranquillity.    There are also strategic policies that conserve and enhance the biodiversity and cultural heritage of the National Park.  Disused railway lines across the National Park are protected for non-motorised travel routes, for example, between Midhurst and Petersfield and Bordon to Bentley.

The Local Plan provides land for new homes and jobs without harming the landscape.  Sites were identified in line with our spatial strategy for a medium level of development dispersed across the town and villages of the National Park.

It also allocates two strategic sites for mixed use re-development:  Shoreham Cement Works next to the River Adur in West Sussex and North Street Quarter in the heart of Lewes Town.

The South Downs Local Plan covers the period 2014 to 2033.