Planning proposals

Albourne is (and has been) the target of a number of large scale housing development proposals. These are summarised below-

  1.  The former Hazeldens Garden Nursery site has outline planning permision for a "retirement village" of 84 units with some infrastructure provision. This was granted on appeal, despite the objections of the Parish Council, and MSDC's original refusal. The Reserved matters (full) application, DM/22/2485, has been submitted to MSDC, and will be discussed by the Parish Council at its meeting on 6th September 2022. (Inspired Villages). View the Parish Council's response HERE

  2. An outline planning application has been submitted to MSDC for up to 120 units on the fields adjacent to the School and Millennium Garden, off the B2116 Henfield Road.The application number is DM/22/2416 and the details/documents are available on the MSDC Planning website. This application will be discussed by the Parish Council at its meeting on 6th September 2022. (Croudace Limited). View the Parish Council's response HERE The application was refused by MSDC in December 2022, but the applicant has gone to appeal, and the hearings are being held by the Planning Inspector during mid August 2023. MSDC will be robustly defending its refusal decision. The Inspector intends to give a final decision in around mid September 2023. The Planning Inspector's decision was published on 5th October 2023. The appeal was DISMISSED. If anyone wishes to view the decision in full, please contact the Clerk.

  3. The Parish Council has recently been approached regarding a proposal to develop for housing, the fields adjacent to the B2118 London Road, to the north of Magnolia Court, Magnolia View, and Holders. See the Plan HERE  (Whitehall Homes LLP)

These sites are in addition to the land (to the north and south of the B2116 Henfield Road) being promoted as part of the ongoing review and updating of the current District Plan by MSDC (see in red below) known as Sayers Common Village. It is understood that the pause back in January 2022 has been lifted, and the Parish Council is waiting to know what (if anything) has changed, and when the matter will be going out to public consultation (see further below).

DISTRICT PLAN REVIEW.

  • Mid Sussex District Council has revealed a proposal for a major and significant housing development in Albourne. Please see the press release below. The development area is shown on the Plan attached HERE, and is intended to provide some 1,850 dwellings, along with some 9,000 square metres of employment space, and some retail. The review proposal is set to be considered by MSDC’s Housing, Planning and Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee on 19th January 2022, and then by the full Council on 9th February 2022, and you can view the papers at this link here. 
  • The matter is not now scheduled to go out to formal consultation (Regulation 18) until later in 2022, but you can make your views known to your Parish Councillors, your MSDC Councillor, Councillor Judy Llewellyn-Burke, and your Mid Sussex MP, Mims Davies. Please note that the Scrutiny Commitee decided to pause the review (and therefore the proposed consultation), pending further work, and the outcome of any change to Goverment policy is known. MSDC has published a full statement on its website explaining their new position. Please note that MSDC has now completed its work, and has published the papers (7th November 2022) setting out their proposals for the review of the District Plan. The large and significant housing development proposed for Albourne (known as Sayers Common  Village) back in January remains largely unchanged.
  • The Regulation 18 consultation has now been completed (December 2022), and the Parish Council submitted a full and detailed response, which is available to view on the home page of this website.
  • MSDC has considered the Regulation 18 responses, and is finalising the proposal. It is therefore preparing to go out to the next stage of the legal process, being Regulation 19 consultation. It has involved the three Parish Councils affected by the proposal, Albourne, Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common, and Twineham and a number of meetings have taken place at MSDC during September and October 2023, at which the Parish Councils have been represented. The purpose is to explain the proposal in more detail, and the reasoning behind it, particularly as regards the major infrastructure requirements being put forward.

Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) prepares to consult on updated District Plan

MSDC will shortly consult on a draft updated District Plan to meet the government’s requirements.
The MSDC District Plan was adopted in 2018 and runs to 2031 and the Government requires that Plans must be updated every 5 years so that housing need is met, and policies remain relevant and effective. MSDC must adopt an updated District Plan by 2023 otherwise it will be considered out of date.

“Without an approved District Plan” Councillor Salisbury, MSDC’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning, noted “we lose control over new planning applications and leave ourselves vulnerable to developers pursuing speculative housing developments”.

Legislation dictates that the District Plan must plan for 15 years from the date of its adoption meaning an updated plan in Mid Sussex will run from 2023 to 2038.  

Councillor Salisbury added, “The standard method for Housing Need as laid out in Government policy sets the required number of new homes in Mid Sussex up to 2038 at around 18,500. Of these about 11,500 are already planned for in the District Plan, the Site Allocatiosn DPD, and Neighbourhood Plans”.

“This means that the new Plan must identify sites to meet at least 7,000 new homes. The method for selecting sites to be allocated has been via a transparent and robust site selection process”.

Subject to Council agreement the Consultation period for the first stage of the updated District Plan will run from the 14 February to 28 March 2022. This will be widely advertised via social media activity, on the Council website and via email alerts.