Lewes District Council has launched its eight-week Issues & Options public consultation. This is the first stage in preparing the new Local Plan. It gives us a real chance of ensuring that developments like the Eton scheme are kept OUT of the Plan. The deadline for commenting is 5pm, September 3, 2021.

Only got a few minutes? Here’s what to do now

1) Go to the Lewes District Council Issues & Options form and input your contact details

2) Scroll to Section 3.2. Section 3.2. is vital as it directly mentions “A new settlement within the Low Weald” (ie new town). We believe Options 1-4 are optimal as they give a spread of development opportunities across the District.

3) Select the options that YOU like and do include a comment in your own words. Your comment should make it clear that you don’t want a new settlement (ie town.)

3) Really increase your impact by encouraging family and friends to comment too

We have prepared a very quick, simple guide re Question 3.2 - you can read it here

Feel passionately? Give a detailed response to maximise impact

1) Download our detailed guidelines.

2) Go the Council’s Issues & Options form, input your contact details and fill out ALL the sections.

3) OR download a hard copy (PDF/Word) and fill it out, then email to ldf@lewes.gov.uk (or post a hard copy to The Planning Policy Team, Lewes District Council, Southover House, Southover Road, Lewes, BN7 1AB.)

3) OR write an email from scratch - answering all the sections - and send to ldf@lewes.gov.uk (or post a hard copy to The Planning Policy Team, Lewes District Council, Southover House, Southover Road, Lewes, BN7 1AB.)

4) You can boost your impact significantly by sharing widely with family and friends and getting them to comment too. (Do note that EVERY member of your household can fill this out and you DON’T need to be local to make your voice heard)

Check out our handy “actions table” below.

Key downloads and links:

• OUR GUIDELINES - five minute version (If you only have a few minutes, 3.2 is the key question to answer)

• OUR GUIDELINES -detailed version (Feel passionately? you can really help by answering several/all of the questions)

• Lewes District Council - Issues and Options ONLINE consultation form (This is where you can fill out the form online)

• Lewes District Council - Issues and Options PDF/hard copy consultation form (Click link to download as a PDF)

• Lewes District Council - Issues and Options consultation form as Word document (Click to download as a Word doc)

• Lewes District Council - Issues and Options document (Useful Council document with info on each section/question)

• Lewes District Council - Issues and Options home page (Council’s general info and links)

Please note:

• Everyone should decide for themselves how to respond, based on their own views. You should write your comments in your own words.

• The Issues & Options consultation isn’t about any particular site (eg the Eton New Town.) We’ll be able to comment on specific sites next year. Issues & Options is about general options e.g. should we have a new town in the Lewes District or not; where should new homes be built; how much emphasis should the Council put on affordable housing etc.

• Once consultation closes, planning officials will count how many people supported or opposed each of the options suggested. It’s therefore vital that, at the very least, you tick relevant boxes to indicate the strength of feeling.

• Planning officials will summarise the comments sections and use these summaries as evidence to justify the Council’s choice of sites in the next stage of the local plan process, ie producing a draft local plan which will be consulted on next year.
  If you are short on time, just answering section 3.2 will really help