South Downs Local Plan goes to Public Examination
October 16, 2018
The first Local Plan to cover the entire South Downs National Park will be examined in public this November and December following its submission to the Government in April 2018.
Government-appointed Planning Inspector, Mr Brian Sims, is leading the examination which takes in the Local Plan, all of the evidence used in its preparation and more than 2,500 comments received in the Pre-Submission Consultation in 2017. A series of public hearings will take place from 13–15 November and 4–6 December in Midhurst and from 11–13 December in East Sussex.
The first week of hearings will focus on legal and strategic matters. The matters and issues for the second and third weeks will be confirmed by the Inspector at the end of October and will focus on non-strategic issues, development management, specific settlements and individual sites.
The Local Plan sets out the high standards that all proposed development must meet to protect and value nature – both for its own sake and also for the vital ‘eco-system’ services it gives us such as clean water, food and space to breath. During the examination the National Park Authority will make the case for the Local Plan, which puts our nationally important landscapes first – they are the reason the South Downs became a National Park and they must sit at the heart of every planning decision we make.
The right to appear and be heard at these sessions is at the Inspector’s discretion and limited to people or organisations who responded to the Pre-Submission Consultation in 2017. Everyone who submitted a comment should now have been contacted by the programme officer with more information.
We are expecting that there will be a further round of public consultation on Main Modifications to the Local Plan. This will be followed by the final Inspector’s report and the National Park Authority are looking to adopt the finalised plan late spring next year. When adopted, its 96 policies will replace the over one thousand different policies from 12 different local authorities currently in place.
Keep an eye on the Local Plan Examination page on our website for all the news and updates about the examination www.southdowns.gov.uk/local-plan-examination/