Adur Local Plan is approved giving local people control over future development

The Adur Local Plan, which will give residents control over development across the area for the next 15 years, has been approved by councillors.

In what has been a six year process, Adur District Council has consulted with hundreds of residents, businesses and other stakeholders in drawing up the 1,200-page blueprint.

The result is a document which has been found ‘sound’ by a Government appointed Inspector and which now gives the local authority control over where and how much development is built up until 2032.

After the document was adopted at a meeting of Adur Council last night (Thursday December 14), Councillors made it clear the document would provide the policy framework against which future planning applications would be assessed.

Councillor Neil Parkin, Leader of Adur District Council, said: “The Adur Local Plan will have real and lasting impact on all of our communities for decades, even generations.

“After more than six years of work and countless consultation, the result is a fair, balanced and most importantly, a sound document which will guide development across the area.

“I personally would like less development but weighing up all the evidence and competing views, I believe this is the best possible result for everyone across our communities.

“Nothing is perfect but in this case nothing would be a disaster. Not agreeing a local plan would not stop local developments; without a local plan we lose all control in terms of where building can take place, making it more likely our valued countryside will be lost forever.”

Unlike many other authorities locally and nationally, Adur’s plan has been supported by a Government-appointed Inspector.

When backing the blueprint, Inspector David Hogger said that he accepted that the council could not fully meet the housing demand in the area due to “significant constraints of building” in an area buffered by the sea and the South Downs.

However, he made clear he would only give approval to the document if it included the word “minimum of” in regard to number of homes and commercial space in key strategic allocations.

The Plan, which covers all the District except those parts which are in the South Downs National Park, will:

·         Deliver a minimum of 3,718 properties up until 2032 - more than half the housing need of 6,825;

·         Deliver a minimum of 41,000 square metres of commercial space across three main sites - Shoreham Airport, Shoreham Harbour and New Monks Farm;

·         All developments of ten or more homes required to provide 30% affordable housing;

·         Preserving a “local green gap” to ensure individual settlements like Shoreham and Lancing retain their individual identities;

·         Inclusion of greenfield housing sites at New Monks Farm in Lancing and land at West Sompting

The Plan also makes clear that where a development does not mitigate the impact on air quality the application will be refused.

Councillor Brian Boggis, Adur District Council’s Executive Member for Regeneration, said: “As a long-standing local resident I too want to protect the unique environment that we live in as far as possible. But we have to make sure we do this while providing places for people to live and work.

“The Adur Local Plan has never been about individual planning applications for specific sites; it is up to the planning committee to use this blueprint as a guide to make decisions as and when they are brought forward.”

As is consistent with emerging government policy, the Plan will be reviewed within five years.