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Frequently asked questions and guidance on making comments on the South Downs Local Plan Review.
The South Downs Local Plan is an award-winning Local Plan. Local Plans set out where future development will take place, such as new homes and locations for business growth, as well the local policy requirements against which future planning applications will be judged. Local Plans must be based on up-to-date and proportionate evidence about strategic issues facing an area and contain policies and allocations (sites identified for development) to address these issues. The policies and allocations must be informed by a Sustainability Appraisal which assesses them against economic, social and environmental objectives.
The Local Plan is an award-winning local plan adopted in July 2019 and sets out the planning policies and allocations (sites identified for development) for the South Downs National Park. Local Plans are required to be reviewed every 5 years, and the review of the Local Plan commenced in May 2022. Many aspects of the existing plan are working well and there is much we will retain of the existing Local Plan. However, we need to ensure the Local Plan is up-to-date and addresses important issues including nature recovery, climate change and supporting local communities to thrive.
The Local Plan Review commenced in May 2022 with the updating of the evidence base, including a ‘call for sites’ in Summer 2022 to inform a Land Availability Assessment and the publication of the Housing and Economic Needs Assessment in November 2023. Other key evidence base studies that were published at the end of 2024 include: Transport, Renewable Energy, Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessments, Local Green Space and Settlement Facilities Assessment. We have also undertaken the following regulatory assessments: Habitats Regulations Assessment, Sustainability Appraisal (incorporating Strategic Environmental Assessment) and Equalities Impact Assessment.
Early engagement has been carried out with town and parish councils from February 2023, including encouraging them to prepare ‘parish priorities statements’ to set out their own local evidence about their areas. We also undertook an ‘early participation’ public engagement on the scope of the Local Plan Review from June – September 2024.
The South Downs Local Plan is an award-winning plan. Many aspects of the existing plan are working well and remain relevant and fit for the future of the National Park. These include:
However, we need to ensure the Local Plan is up-to-date and addresses important issues including nature recovery, climate change and supporting local communities to thrive. We also need to update the plan considering changes to national policy.
The Local Plan Review Regulation 18 document contains the following:
Thematic policies on nature recovery and climate change have been subject to a full review and updated to address these key priorities.
The consultation is open for 8 weeks from Monday 20 January to Monday 17 March 2025. Responses to the consultation can be made in the following ways:
Online: Using the consultation platform to view and give feedback on the draft revised Local Plan at https://sdnpalocalplanreview.commonplace.is/
Email: planningpolicy@southdowns.gov.uk
In writing: Planning Policy Team, South Downs Centre, North Street, Midhurst, West Sussex, GU29 9DH
To be considered relevant, any comments that you submit must relate to the use of land and any implications arising from this. They must also be framed in the wider public interest rather than personal interest (e.g. perceived loss of value to someone’s home). It also helps if comments are supported by relevant published evidence rather than anecdotal evidence or generalised statements.
Please provide any relevant local views, reports or actions that you (or your group) have prepared or know of. You can also highlight any sites you think are suitable for development or areas you want protected from development. We have published the evidence supporting the Local Plan Review, and you may also like to comment on the assumptions and reasoning in these pieces of evidence.
Following this consultation all the responses received will be collated, analysed and taken into account alongside the evidence base and other considerations, such as national policy and guidance, to produce the Second Public Consultation Document (Regulation 19). This will be a full version of the Local Plan Review as the National Park Authority intends to submit for examination. The Second Public Consultation Document is currently programmed for early 2026 followed by the submission of the Local Plan Review to the Planning Inspectorate (on behalf of the Secretary of State), which will appoint an Inspector to carry out an examination of the plan, including consideration of representations submitted in the second public consultation.
This is a key statutory consultation stage when all stakeholders can respond and influence the Local Plan Review. The Authority will consider all representations and use them to shape the Plan. At the next stage (Regulation 19 consultation) people can only comment on legal compliance and soundness, and their comments are sent to the Planning Inspectorate to consider during the examination – further modifications are at the discretion of the Inspector.
The South Downs Local Plan is an award-winning Local Plan. Several aspects of the Local Plan are working well and we will retain these, including the landscape-led approach, ecosystem services and the development strategy of a medium level of development dispersed across the towns and villages of the National Park.
There is a need to review development needs and provision numbers both at a National Park level and for individual settlements, to ensure the Plan delivers on SDNPA corporate priorities on Nature Recovery, Climate Action and a National Park for All, addresses changes in national policies, and reviews and amends certain policies where they have been problematic to implement. It is also agreed to incorporate policy development on Shoreham Cement Works.
The Local Plan covers the whole of the South Downs National Park which stretches from Winchester in the West to Eastbourne in the East. The National Park is home to over 113,000 residents, spans 15 different local authority areas across three counties and has four bustling market towns.
There are two local planning authorities in Lewes District. Parts of Lewes district inside the National Park fall within the scope of the South Downs National Park Authority (e.g. Lewes town, Kingston Near Lewes and Ditchling) and are covered by the South Downs Local Plan Review. The area outside the National Park, Lewes District Council is the planning authority. Lewes District Council have launched the ‘Defining our policies and early site allocation proposals’ consultation, which is part of the process towards the emerging Lewes District Local Plan.
Further details are available at: https://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/article/2996/Lewes-District-Local-Plan-consultation.
The South Downs National Park is Britain’s most populated National Park with over 113,000 residents, living in one of the four market towns and smaller villages and settlements. It is important we plan for the future and continued vitality of this towns and villages, supporting local facilities and ensuring there are suitable homes, particularly affordable homes for local communities.
The Local Plan Review retains the development strategy of the adopted Local Plan for a medium level of growth dispersed across the towns and villages in the National Park. Medium growth means the number of new homes based on the historic delivery rate in the National Park. Dispersed growth means sharing this growth amongst the towns and villages across the National Park and is considered the best way to promote the vitality of these settlements and support the rural economy.
The South Downs was established as a National Park in 2010. The South National Park Authority became the local planning authority for the National Park in 2011, meaning that it has overall responsibility for planning matters within the National Park area. In some cases, it has delegated the determination of planning applications to other bodies known as ‘host authorities’ (Lewes and Eastbourne Councils, Winchester City Council, and Chichester and East Hampshire District Councils). However, it retains direct responsibility for producing Local Plans and other policy documents for the National Park area.
The consultation includes site allocation policies that are already in the South Downs Local Plan but have not yet been implemented. They have been through an examination process and found to be sound (i.e. they meet the tests set out in national legislation and policy). There would have to be a significant change in circumstances since the examination in 2018 to justify changing or removing these from the Plan.
In some instances, further evidence work carried out to progress planning applications has established that the capacity of sites needs to be adjusted or some criteria changed or removed because they are not achievable. Note that some of these allocations will already have planning permission, but still need to be retained in the Plan in case this permission is not implemented, and an alternative proposal is put forward.
Yes – sites for development can be submitted at any time. We request that landowners, site promoters and other stakeholders submit information about additional sites that could have potential for residential or other development over the period to 2042. You can do this by submitting the relevant ‘Call for Sites’ form that can be downloaded from the website: https://www.southdowns.gov.uk/planning-policy/the-south-downs-local-plan-review/evidence-base/homes-and-economy/land-availability-assessment/submit-a-site/
