Beyond the political point scoring: what’s happening to local plans & why

There has been a lot of political finger pointing recently following the Nolands Farm application winning on appeal, due to the Local Plan lapsing. 

Here is a brief fact check on why the Lewes District local plan has lapsed, what it means until we get a new one adopted, and why is it taking so long?  (Spoiler – it’s pretty much all down to Central Government!)

Timeline

2016 – Lewes District Local Plan was adopted, designed to last till 2030, providing 345 homes per year

2018 - Changes to National Policy by the Central Government results in local plans having to be reviewed at 5 years.  A new calculation for assessing the number of houses needed is also introduced by the Government – called the “standard method”.

2021 – The Lewes District 2016 Local Plan is reassessed against the Governments new 2018 policies.  It does not meet the requirements.  The new “standard method” of calculating housing needs means 782 homes is the new target per year.  The local plan is now declared out of date.

Why didn’t the District Council renew it sooner?

The council cannot simply renew the Local Plan.  Failure to follow the correct procedure would mean that local plan would fail examination by the Central Governments Planning Inspector. The District Council began the process in 2020 once the second part of the existing 2016 local plan had been passed. Lewes is not alone in this.  Councils across the country are in the exact same position.

The Government’s own Planning White Paper published in summer 2020 identifies that the process of local plan preparation takes an average of 7 years under the current system. 

This means that it is pretty impossible for Lewes District Council to have an adopted new Local Plan until 2028 as a direct result of Central Government Policies.  We understand that the District Council  is aiming to have the new plan submitted to the Secretary of State to arrange examination by 2025.  It is unclear how long it would then take to be adopted, or how the most recent policy review will affect this process.

What can happen while there is no local plan?

In short, the district cannot demonstrate that it has a plan in place to supply the housing which has been assessed as needed.  On appeals, the inspector is likely to go in favour of the developer due to this.

This is exactly what happened in the Nolands Farm application.  The inspector cited it as the only reason to grant this permission.  This scenario is being repeated across the country, and is likely to continue for years until Local Plans can be approved.

There must be a mix up – why would the government create a new set of policies which forces local plans out of date across the country?

You can speculate if this was an accident or if it was intentionally engineered this way.  It certainly seems to mean that during this gap of no local plans in place, which has been forced by the Central Government Policies, permissions for developments are being granted on appeal for this very reason across the country, in huge numbers.

What now?

The Government have been making headlines about changing the National Planning Policy Framework again.  They are now going out to consultation, so watch this space for upcoming actions for you.

One key change for Lewes District would be for how the target number of dwellings is calculated, and to make this number advisory.

You may have heard that previous Housing Minister, Robert Jenrick, wrote that this is currently an “advisory” number only for Lewes District Council.  However, it is legally doubtful that the district could justify reducing the number under the current policy framework.  So, it is important that any “advisory” number is backed up by the legal policy, otherwise this will remain a meaningless political phrase that bears no real weight in the local planning process.