Land Availability Assessment

As part of the Local Plan Review we are undertaking a Land Availability Assessment.

The Land Availability Assessment is an essential part of the evidence base for the Local Plan Review. The Land Availability Assessment identifies potential land and assesses the availability, suitability and achievability of potential sites.

The Land Availability Assessment will not determine whether a site should be allocated for development. However, it will help to identify a potential pool of sites for further consideration through a range of technical work.

This will help to inform future decisions on allocations in the Local Plan Review or in Neighbourhood Development Plans.

The provisional findings  of the Land Availability Assessment are set out in the document below.

• Land Availability Assessment – Provisional Findings – Covering Report – November 2024
• Appendix A – Assessment Criteria – 2022
• Appendix B – Proformas for sites assessed as ‘Has Potential’ – 2024

(excluding sites which are already allocated in the adopted South Downs Local Plan 2019, allocated in Neighbourhood Development Plans, or with extant planning permission)

• Appendix C – Assessment outcomes for excluded sites 
• Appendix D – Assessment outcomes for rejected sites 

The LAA will be updated with any additional information provided about existing sites and assessments through the Regulation 18 consultation, and with any further sites submitted, and a final version published alongside the Regulation 19 consultation.

Interactive Map

Sites within the Land Availability Assessment can be reviewed on the interactive map.

• View the interactive map

The map shows sites which ‘have potential’ in amber, sites which are ‘rejected’ in red and sites which are ‘excluded’ in grey.

Using your mouse, click, hold and drag to move about the map, and scroll to zoom in or out. You can also use the +/- symbols on the top left of the map to zoom. Layers and the key can be selected and viewed on the left of the map. You can search for a location by postcode in the top right. Click on the site to view its site reference, name, settlement, 2024 Provisional conclusion and any reasons for rejected or excluded sites.

The map shows overall conclusions only. For more information on why sites have been rejected including the landscape assessment and other information on suitability, availability and achievability, please refer to Appendix D above.