Six-week public consultation to be held on Mid Sussex District Council’s draft District Plan

Once adopted, the Plan will be the main document used by the council when considering planning applications up to 2039. It includes the proposed level of development in each area and a number of planning policies. During a meeting of the full council, members agreed that the draft Plan should be put out to consultation – known as the Regulation 19 stage – between January 12 and the end of February.

After that, it will be submitted to the Secretary of State for examination before hopefully being adopted in late 2024. Leader Robert Eggleston said: “Reaching this stage of our plan-making process has been challenging, but it’s a testament to the hard work and compromises made by everyone involved. Although decisions may be difficult and not always agreed upon, the new District Plan aims to protect our local area, while also meeting the needs of our population”

Significant development sites included in the Plan are: 1,850 south of Reeds Lane, Sayers Common; 1,500 at Crabbet Park, Copthorne; and 1,350 homes west of Burgess Hill and north of Hurstpierpoint. Other sites include: 350 homes west of Turners Hill Road, Crawley Down; 300 near Burgess Hill Station; 200 at Foxhole Farm, Bolney; 200 at LVS Hassocks, Sayers Common; and 100 at Orchards Shopping Centre, Haywards Heath.

Other allocations are for: allotments in Nightingale Lane, Burgess Hill; a 60-bed residential care home at Byanda, Hassocks; and the use of land at Hyde Lodge, Handcross, for other accommodation for the elderly.

John Belsey, chair of the scrutiny committee which recommended the draft Plan be put out to consultation, acknowledged that most people might want to see specific parts of it changed.

But he warned that what they submitted for examination had to be ‘enforcable’ and ‘legally tight’.Mr Belsey added: “Crucially, we need to ensure Mid Sussex remains a district that can demonstrate it meets its housing need, reducing the risk of speculative development planning applications being successful. We don’t have to look very far to see other districts and boroughs who don’t have an up-to-date District Plan and who are bombarded with such speculative development which rightly upsets their local communities.”

The draft Plan includes 26 policies aimed at tackling environmental challenges such as climate change, pollution and water neutrality. Jenny Edwards (Green, Ardingly, Balcombe & Turners Hill) supported the Plan, but added: “In an ideal world, everyone would like to see the policies being tightened to put more onus on house builders to delivers sustainable communities with solar panels, electric vehicle charging points and the like.

“But sadly we don’t live in an ideal world yet.”

A further 14 policies are aimed at economic challenges, eight at infrastructure, and more than 20 at housing and communities. Officers reported that, when the council did not have an adopted Plan, more than 3,000 unplanned homes were approved, with the taxpayer footing the £720,000 bill to appeal those decisions.

There was a feeling of ‘At last!’ among many of the councillors as they agreed by 43 votes to one to put the Plan out to consultation.

Only Peter Chapman (Burgess Hill Independent, Burgess Hill – Victoria) voted against the Plan.