Notice to Residents from Plumpton Parish Council

Additional housing targets for Lewes District Council (LDC)

At a recent meeting with the LDC Planning Policy department, Plumpton Parish Council was informed of the likely impact arising from LDC’s Local Plan reaching its fifth anniversary in May 2021. The LDC Local Plan is the basis against which our Plumpton Parish Neighbourhood Plan must conform.

From May 2021, unless LDC can argue otherwise, the housing target for LDC will be based on the ‘Standard Method’ which is a national statistical model. The impact of this is that LDC will receive a new annual target that increases the number of new dwellings required across the district by 227%.

LDC regard this target as undeliverable, but if they cannot convince central government that exceptional circumstances apply then Plumpton could be allocated significantly more development than the 68 set out in our Plumpton Parish Neighbourhood Plan.

Furthermore, the LDC Local Plan and our Plumpton Parish Neighbourhood Plan will have less weight in planning decisions, and it will be easier for developers to gain planning permission for new dwellings that do not respect these democratically adopted plans. It will not matter if a proposed development site is not included in the Plumpton Parish Neighbourhood Plan. It will not matter if the proposed site is outside the village planning boundary. Potentially, it will not matter if the proposed development does not conform to all the other policies in LDC and Plumpton plans.

Plumpton Parish Council has already been contacted by a developer who intends to lodge an application to build 89 houses within Plumpton Green. To be clear – this is in addition to the 68 units provided for in the Neighbourhood Plan which more than met the original LDC target for new dwellings in Plumpton until 2030.

Whilst Plumpton Parish Council would normally expect LDC to oppose any development in Plumpton that does not accord with the Plumpton Parish Neighbourhood Plan, unless LDC can persuade central government to revert to a more appropriate target, we will have to work much harder to achieve any sensible outcome for our community. We are preparing for this outcome and will keep you informed as things become clearer.