Chichester District Council told to start work on another Local Plan - nine months after adopting current one

The Plan, which helps to guide future development across the district, was adopted in August 2025. But, thanks to new planning regulations, the council now has to take £550,000 from its reserves to start the whole lengthy process again.

The money was approved during a meeting on Tuesday (May 19) – but the Government’s planning system came in for a lot of criticism from councillors.

Bill Brisbane, cabinet member for planning, called the task ahead ‘challenging’ and ‘pretty unrealistic’.

He reported that the council had asked to meet with Ministers and civil servants to discuss the matter but had received very little help – remaining ‘in the dark’ about some of the new planning regulations.

If all goes well, the new Plan should be adopted by April 30 2029 – but by then, the council will have been dissolved and become part of a new, much larger, unitary authority.

The new authority will go live in 2028. While it’s hoped that the work on the Plan will be so advanced by then that the authority will opt to see it through, there are no rules saying that it has to do so.

Jonathan Brown, deputy leader of the council, said: “The situation is everything that is wrong with the so-called planning system. We’re being forced by the Government to start something they haven’t published the rules for – and forced to plan for an area that won’t exist once we reach the end of the process.

“There is no recognition of local government reorganisation, the Government missed its own deadline for making a decision, and we don’t even know yet who our partners in the new authority will be.”

As well as the £550,000, the council will also have to find money to pay for a senior officer and staff member to help deal with the significant amount of work that goes into preparing a Local Plan.

By law, the council has to publish a ‘notice to commence’ by June 30 and complete a self-assement by the end of October.

A six-week ‘scoping’ consultation will be held, giving residents, businesses and organisations an opportunity to comment on what the new Plan should cover and how they would like to be involved as it is developed.

Following the meeting, Mr Brisbane said: “While the council recognises the Government’s ambition to boost housebuilding, this should not come at the expense of current or future residents, who could otherwise face adverse social, economic and environmental consequences from poorly located and unsustainable development.”

People can find the proposed timetable for the new Chichester Local Plan at: www.chichester.gov.uk/planningpolicy