1.4 The LDS therefore, sets out the current Development Plan and introduces the scope and timeframe for preparing the emerging local Development Plan Documents (DPDs), which will form the Development Plan.
1.5 The Local Plan must be prepared in accordance with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which was revised and published in July 2021. The NPPF must also be read alongside Planning Policy for Traveller Sites August 2015. In additional updates to the Government’s Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) were published in August 2022 (Flood Risk and coastal Change). This may impact on existing and emerging Development Plan Documents. Further signalled changes are set out in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill progressing though Parliament.
1.6 The Localism Act 2011 allows for communities to draw up Neighbourhood Development Plans (NDPs). Arun’s Local Planning Authority Area is parished with 21 Parish/Town Councils. Up to 15th November 2022, there are 17 ‘made’ (adopted) NDPs in the District, prepared in accordance with the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012. Several of these made NDPs are undergoing a review. There are 2 Parish Councils not preparing NDPs. The Table below shows the current position with regard to made NDP, those subject to review and those updated. Once NDPs are adopted (‘made’) by the Council, they will sit beside the Arun Local Plan and become part of the statutory Development Plan which guides decision-making in the district.
1.7 The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Regulations came into force in 2010 and have been amended successively, the latest amendment being in September 2019. The approved Arun CIL Charging Schedule was implemented coming into effect on 1 April 2020.
2.1 All planning applications in Arun District Council must be considered against the Development Plan within the Arun local planning authority area (i.e. outside of the South Downs National Park area – SDNP - that falls within part of Arun District) currently consists of the following adopted plans:-
Currently Preparing a
Currently reviewing or updating ‘Made’ NDP
Updated NDP ‘Made’
2.2 The Arun Local Plan was adopted by Full Council on 18 July 2018 (incorporating Main Modifications), and it replaces the Local Plan 2003 (in its entirety within Arun local planning authority area) and all of the saved policies from the 2003 plan. Decisions on planning applications will need to accord with the Adopted Arun Local Plan 2018 unless other material circumstances indicate otherwise.
2.3 The West Sussex Joint Minerals Local Plan (JMLP), which was adopted in July 2018, ensures the supply of minerals to at least 2033. It sets out the vision, objectives and strategy for mineral land-use planning in West Sussex and provides 10 strategic policies and 15 Development Management policies to provide a policy framework for determining mineral planning applications. It also sets out minerals safeguarding areas and facilities, and site allocations for minerals development. The JMLP replaces any saved policies and development management decisions must accord with the statutory development plan for West Sussex unless material circumstances indicate otherwise. The JMLP can be found on the West Sussex County Council (WSCC) website:-
2.4 The West Sussex Waste Local Plan (WLP) (2014) was adopted on 11 April 2014. It sets the vision, objective and strategy for waste planning in West Sussex until 2031. It includes Use-Specific Policies, Development Management Policies and Waste Site Allocation policies. The allocation policies aim to ensure there is sufficient capacity to meet identified shortfalls in transfer, recycling and recovery capacity across the county. The WLP includes two strategic sites within Arun District at Hobbs Barn, near Climping and Site north of Wastewater Treatment Works, Ford. These are included in the Arun Local Plan Policies Maps. In accordance with national policy, the West Sussex Mineral Planning Authority reviewed the WLP 2014 in 2020 and concluded that the policies were fit for purpose and did not need updating.
2.5 There are 17 Neighbourhood Development Plans within the Arun District that have been ‘made’. These give communities the power to develop a shared vision for their neighbourhood and shape the development and growth of their local area. They include the location of new homes, shops and offices. They influence what those new buildings should look like and inform what infrastructure should be provided. The Arundel Neighbourhood Plan is the first ‘made’ NDP to be reviewed and pass a referendum (December 2019) and was ‘made in January 2020.
3.1 The adopted ALP 2018 provides policies for allocation and safeguarding sites to accommodate both Gypsy and Traveller and Traveller Showmen households based on needs identified and updated with successive publications of the ‘Joint Gypsy and Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Assessment May 2015 (GTAA) commissioned by the SDNP and authorities within West Sussex County under the ‘duty to cooperate’.
3.2 The ALP 2018 also provides that, because of changes to the national policy during plan preparation, work should commence immediately on a separate ‘Gypsy and Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Sites Allocation DPD’. Preparation should follow an update of the evidence base (jointly with SDNP, WSCC, Worthing Borough and Adur District and Chichester District) to ensure that accommodation provision meets the requirements of the Planning for Traveller Sites Policy (August 2015). Further details regarding the timetable for the preparation of this DPD are provided in Appendix 1.
Arun Local Plan Update DPD
3.3 On 15 January 2020 Arun District Council resolved to update the Arun Local Plan following a review of housing policies and housing delivery performance (in 2019). In addition, the council declared a ‘Climate Change Emergency’ which included the need to develop a new planning framework to improve the level of sustainability and infrastructure and to revise the existing development management policies.
3.4 The ‘Climate Change Emergency’ is a priority requiring the impact and mitigation of climate change to be considered and incorporated into all policies, key decision making and officer’s work. The Arun Environment and Leisure Working Group is tasked with producing an action plan with milestones to make the activities of the council carbon neutral by 2030.
3.5 Consequently, preparation of a Non-Strategic Sites Allocations DPD (NSSA DPD) to support the existing ALP 2018 was abandoned to ensure that the resources and timetable for the Local Plan review are prioritized within the context of the Climate Change Emergency and key priorities of the council.
3.6 The ALP 2018 commitment to provide at least 1,250 dwellings for the period to 2031 will mean that contributions from Neighbourhood Development Plan reviews will be expected to deliver a proportion of the ALP 2018 dwelling requirement to 2031 as currently agreed with those Parish Neighbourhood Development bodies.
3.7 The council does not have a 5-year housing land supply and has failed the Government’s Housing Delivery Test published in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. For those Parishes not preparing NDP reviews (or NDPs) that would have been subject to development allocations via the abandoned NSSDPD the council will operate a policy of inviting applications from deliverable Housing Sites within the HELAA. This is set out in the Action Plans published in 2019 and 2021 and an ‘Interim Housing Statement’ published in 2021. Applications will be determined in accordance with presumption in favour of sustainable development (set out in paragraph 11d) of the National Planning Policy Framework 2019, until a 5-year housing land supply is re-established and or the Local Plan update or NDPs preparation and review, together, identify planned provision to meet requirements.
3.7 In October 2021 the council paused work on the Local Plan update because of signaled changes to national planning policy and the need to ensure that plan-making was fit for purpose and cost-effective. The pause was reconsidered but maintained until June 2022. However, in July 2023 the council resolved to lift the pause to the Local Plan update on the basis that the impending changes are broadly understood and there was a need to progress plan-making to address the significant housing economic and infrastructure needs of the area sustainably. The Adopted Arun local plan 2018 is now 5 years old (July 2023). Further details regarding the timetable for the preparation of this DPD are provided in Appendix1.