Local Plan consultation set for New Year launch

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.    

Cabinet councillors today (December 5) agreed a first phase of consultation that will run from week commencing January 6 to February 28. Phase one of the consultation is on the detailed policies for the plan area and will consider sites within towns and a limited number of villages. The second phase will take place later in 2025 and have a greater emphasis on more rural parts of the district, while also re-evaluating areas considered during phase one.  

Councillor Zoe Nicholson, Leader of Lewes District Council, said:

"My deep misgivings about the government's proposed new housing targets are well known and I will continue to lobby Angela Rayner for a pause and much-needed rethink.   Her current plan simply won't work. It represents a fast and loose charter for developers to dig up our district wherever they like, instead of giving us the resources to build good quality council homes in the right locations. 

"It is also why we need more residents than ever to join us in having their say and creating a clear and united voice that I hope the Deputy Prime Minister will listen to. So far over 50,000 comments have been fed into the analysis and assessments carried out by our planning team, which is terrific, but those local views must keep coming in."

Residents will be able to choose from a range of different ways to engage with the consultation. This will include an online webinar that will take place early in the New Year and a series of in-person drop-in events that will begin towards the end of January 2025. These are being organised in collaboration with some of the Town and Parish Councils across the district. An online consultation portal will include a summary and glossary, as well as the full documents on which the council is inviting comments. Paper copies will also be available on request and from the council offices.

Councillor Laurence O'Connor, Cabinet Member for Planning, said: 

"These arbitrary government housing targets are just the latest in a long line of obstacles to achieving a real solution to the affordable housing crisis.  We need the Deputy Prime Minister to work with us, not against us or we face the prospect of green spaces disappearing forever from towns like Peacehaven and Telscombe - areas which are already being pressured from every side.

"During this first phase of consultation in January and February the scope will include potential sites in towns, while the second phase will look at the more rural locations. We need to make sure we gather all the evidence carefully on why we can't meet the government's targets. Our district is constrained by the coast and the South Downs National Park, so we must continue to press the case for this to recognised."

Short survey on the Local Plan

Ahead of the consultation, Lewes District Council is running a short survey to find out about local people's understanding of what a Local Plan is. The council will use what people say through the survey to help shape its future communications about the Local Plan. The survey, which will stay open until 5pm on Tuesday 31 December 2024, also gives respondents the opportunity to join the council's Local Plan mailing list.

For more information about the Local Plan consultation, and to complete the short survey, visit

www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/Lewes-Local-Plan

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