Lewes and its surrounding local communities continue to be a hugely important part of the National Park since its creation 15 years ago. Planning is at the heart of ensuring the area’s continued vibrancy and prosperity.

During that time some planning work was delivered on the National Park Authority’s behalf by Lewes and Eastbourne Councils as part of a “Host Authority” contract. A number of successes have been achieved, including strong neighbourhood planning, much-needed affordable homes and the creation of new wildlife havens.

We have more recently been engaging and working more closely with the groups which represent the Town, including the Town Council, to help shape the future of the Local Plan and how it can continue to support this important town in the National Park. We also joined the Lewes Floods 25th Anniversary events to remember and learn from these devastating floods. We look forward to continuing these relationships and working together to deliver for Lewes.

In that vein and by mutual agreement the current contract with Lewes and Eastbourne Councils came to an end on 31 March 2026 and on 1 April all planning services in the Lewes and Eastbourne Districts returned to the South Downs National Park Authority.

A number of staff at Lewes District Council have transferred to the SDNPA, including planning officers, a Specialist Advisor for Heritage and an Enforcement Officer. The planning officers have worked closely with us for many years and we are delighted it has been a seamless transition as council staff join our wider planning team with a keeness to improve the service in the Lewes District.

Our new office at County Hall, Lewes, will be used as a base for the planning team and other SDNPA staff in the town. We will not have an SDNPA reception at County Hall, but the base can be used by the team as they travel around the town and district to assess planning applications.

We are pleased we have made this investment and look forward to being based in the town.

We’re keen to ensure that planning delivers the best results for the people of Lewes, its surrounding communities and the National Park, having regard to the Partnership Management Plan, the Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plans.

If I have an enquiry about an application in the Lewes or Eastbourne area, who do I contact?

Please contact the relevant case officer, or planning@southdowns.gov.uk

Will this change the way my planning application is assessed?

No. The SDNPA team at Lewes work on applications in the same way as all other parts of the National Park. The Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plans continue to apply and neighbours, the Town Council and others will still be consulted in the same way.

Will decisions still be made in Lewes?

We are pleased to have a base for our planning team in the town for them to assess planning applications.

When cases are to be decided by Committee, they will be decided by the SDNPA Committee, rather than previously where some of the smaller applications were decided by the Committee at LDC.

For the larger, significant applications already processed by the SDNPA, we have previously held Committees in Lewes and we will continue to look at the best venues to do this.

There may be some smaller cases which are decided by the Committee at the National Park Authority’s head office in Midhurst, but we will always communicate this with you moving forward.

Will this slow down the planning process?

No. There will be no changes to the experience of applicants and the public. Applications will be processed in the same way by an SDNPA team dedicated to serving Lewes and the surrounding area.

The SDNPA planning teams deal with applications across the whole of the National Park and seven of the districts’ entire planning workload are handled by the National Park Authority.

For more information see www.southdowns.gov.uk/planning-process/