Horsham District Council were expected to progress its Local Plan to the Regulation 19 stage in January 2021. However, Squires Planning have learnt that in advance of the publication of this document, the Strategic Planning team took the opportunity to seek advice on the Local Plan preparation process. The advice provided to the Council has not identified any significant omissions in terms of the matters that the plan is seeking to address, but did make officers aware of new requirements regarding the timing of work with organisations such as Highways England and Natural England. This now means further work is required before the plan can progress to Regulation 19 consultation.
The timetable for the Plan has therefore been pushed back whilst this work is finished. A revised timeline is not yet known, but a recent update from the Council confirmed they expect the Regulation 19 document to now be published in the spring of 2021.
This is an unhelpful delay for Horsham District Council who need to progress their new local plan. There are already speculative planning applications being considered in the District which seek to demonstrate the current development plan is out of date and a 5 year housing land supply does not exist. COVID has also not helped planning policy in the District, preventing seven neighbourhood plans from progressing to referendum which would allocate land for a significant number of homes.
We have a very good knowledge of planning policy in the area and if you have an interest in Horsham District, one of our team would be happy to have an informal discussion to see whether we can help.
