In September 2021 Natural England announced in a Position Statement that it could not be concluded that the existing abstraction of water within the Sussex North Water Supply Zone would not have an adverse effect on the integrity of the Arun Valley Special Area Conservation (SAC), the Arun Valley Special Protection Area (SPA) and the Arun Valley Ramsar Site.
Due to this, Natural England have advised that for the foreseeable future, planning applications made in the Sussex North Supply Zone must achieve ‘water neutrality’ whereby there is not a net increase in consumption of water because of development.
This issue is affecting planning applications submitted to the following local authorities:
- Chichester District Council
- Horsham District Council
- Crawley District Council
- South Downs National Park
Squires Planning undertake projects in each of these 4 districts. If you have a project in one of these areas and would like advice regarding water neutrality please get in touch.
