News
2024: 13th January - HDC Water Strategy, the HDC Local Plan & Itchingfield Parish Neighbourhood Plan - an update
We reported to the Village Meeting in July last year that any further progress on our Neighbourhood Plan would have to await the adoption of the Horsham District Council Local Plan.
This was because we needed to allow HDC to formulate and adopt a strategy in relation to Water Neutrality (the idea that any new development should not consume more water than the undeveloped land). Sorting out this strategy would take a lot of time, effort and expenditure.
This work has now been completed and the Horsham Local Plan has now been accepted by the Council and formally adopted.
However, our Plan has to conform to what is in the Local Plan and has to follow what the Local Plan says on Water Neutrality. This means that out draft Plan has to be amended to insert a new Policy on Water Neutrality.
To do this, unfortunately, means that the new part of our Plan will have to be independently examined, backed up by expert evidence and then put out for a 6-week consultation process. The first step in this process, the expert report, has been commissioned by HDC.
All of this means that we cannot expect that our Plan can be put to the parish residents, at a referendum, until (probably) the summer of this year.
It is worth mentioning that 3 other parishes (Pulborough, Cowfold and Lower Beeding) are in the same position as we are. A fourth parish, West Chiltington, is even further behind us in the approval process.
Rest assured that we will continue to press HDC to make urgent progress with the legal steps needed to be taken before we can have a referendum.
In the meantime the development at Sumners Ponds has been commenced. No progress however has been made in relation to the Old School site at Itchingfield and we are attempting to find out what will happen to this site, which remains abandoned and derelict.
Ian Walker – Chair, Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group
2022: 7th November - HDC Water Strategy Plan awaited before Referendum on NP
Those of you who attended the Parish Meeting in July will recall that we reported that we
had been in discussion with Horsham District Council. They had told us that the Council was
trying to produce a Water Strategy Plan, which, when agreed and signed off by Southern
Water, Natural Britain and the other affected local councils, would enable our Plan to go
forward (at last) to a referendum.
Latest information from HDC is that those discussions are proceeding and, although there is
hope that all will be agreed soon, nothing positive can be reported yet.
In the meantime HDC are refusing planning applications unless it can be shown that the
development is “water-neutral”; that is to say, that the development will use no more water
than the undeveloped site. This can take into account not just water-saving measures at the
site, but other strategies off-site.
Once HDC has its Water Strategy agreed and accepted, we will be given a date for our local
referendum. Whether this will be before the date for next year’s local elections remains to
be seen.
For the moment, though, the two sites in the parish recommended to be accepted for
development remain in their undeveloped state.
Ian Walker, Chair – Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group
2022: 2nd March: Stuck in (water-)neutral
As you will remember, Horsham District Council abruptly cancelled the referendum that we needed to accept the Neighbourhood Plan.
This was because Natural England, and Southern Water, had raised serious concerns about the level of water abstraction in our area, and the effect on biodiversity. Those concerns were expressed in a Position Paper, which (for planning purposes) has the force of law.
HDC undertook to work with Natural England and Southern Water to see how the position could be resolved, both in the medium and long term, but so far, after 4 months, no progress has been made.
To try and move things forward we have provided HDC with suggested amendments to our draft Plan, to allow for this new situation. HDC have told us that our proposed solution will not work and that there would be a danger of a legal challenge to the Plan if we went ahead as we suggested.
A copy of HDC’s letter is here should you wish to see it.
In the meantime we have the security of knowing that any planning application will be refused by HDC unless the application can clearly show that the development will be “water-neutral”; that is to say that the development will use no more water than the land used without the development. We cannot see how such water-neutrality could in practice be achieved and therefore we should be protected from rogue development in the medium term.
We will continue to monitor HDC’s negotiations regarding water use, and will update the parish as and when we have something to report.
Ian Walker
Chairman, Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group
2022: 2nd February: IPC response to HDC update on Water Neutrality & Neighbourhood Plans
Following the reply from Horsham District Council, the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group, with the agreement of the Parish Council team, have responded to Horsham District Council with a proposal which seeks to address the current empasse arising from the necessary consideration of Water Neutrality.
The reply sent, we now await a further response from HDC to this proposal.
2022: 24th January: Update on Water Neutrality & Neighbourhood Plans
Horsham District Council has informed us of difficulty in reaching a conclusion about Water Neutrality Policy as applied to Neighbourhood Plans. There is not any clear indication on when we might expect HDC to schedule the postponed Referendum on the Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan.
Norman Kwan, of HDC, sent this email explaining the situation in more detail.
2021: 8th October: Referendum for Neighbourhood Plan postponed by Horsham District Council
The Referendum to accept the Itchingfield Neighbourhood Development Plan was due to take place on the 18 th November.
This will now not happen.
Horsham District Council has postponed our referendum, and those of 3 other parishes, informing us only days after we had publicly announced the date.
The reason is that the Natural England have issued a Notice, which has the force of law, in relation to water abstraction (our area is becoming short on water supplies) and the consequent effect on protected species.
As a result HDC will have to refuse any application for planning permission unless it can be shown that the development is “water-neutral”.
HDC is urgently addressing the issue with the Environment Agency and Natural England, and anticipates that our Plan may go forward, with suitable policy amendments, in 3 or 4 months’ time.
This is deeply disappointing, but the matter is beyond our power to alter, and we have to see how HDC can resolve the problem.
Ian Walker
Chair – Plan Steering Group
2021: 4th October: Village Meeting - Referendum for Neighbourhood Plan announced: 18 November 2021
At the Barns Green Village meeting last night, Ian Walker, Chairman of the Itchingfield and Barns Green Neighbourhood Plan Steering Committee, gave the welcome news that the Neighbourhood Plan is set to be put to Referendum on 18 November 2021. The Plan document is now available for pre-Referendum consultation here.
If the Referendum is passed by the voting public, then it will pass into, and become part of, the corpus of guiding documentation used in Horsham District to evaluate applications for development under Planning.
At the moment, Horsham District Council's District-level Local Plan is still pending update, so it is therefore vital that Itchingfield Parish put the Neighbourhood Plan in place (that the Plan is Made, in legal terms) so that it provides a level of control and protection against unwelcome developments. The Parish needs this to be able to influence How and Where future development takes place inside the Parish boundary.
More details will be published shortly - please keep an eye out. Meanwhile, please take a look at the Itchingfield Parish Neighbourhood Plan on which the Referendum will be based.
2021: 1st August: Update on progress
Horsham District Council have still not released their Decision Notice, which will set out the extent to which they accept the recommendations of the independent Examiner.
This delay is very annoying and we are pressing HDC to release the document.
We can then amend our Plan, in accordance with the Examiner’s recommendations, and a date for the approval Referendum will be set.
HDC’s delay in dealing with these issues is irritating to say the least.
In the meantime HDC has released its revised District Plan. This draft plan made recommendations about development land in Itchingfield and Barns Green, and had been produced without any consultation with the parish council. The draft District plan conflicted with our emerging plan, in relation to site allocations, and we have lodged strong objections.
Indeed Ian Walker, the Steering Group chair, was scheduled to speak at the HDC Council meeting last week, to air our grievances, when the meeting was cancelled at the very last minute. This was because the Government had announced changes to the National Planning Framework, which changes made the draft District plan already obsolete.
Ian had a letter, setting out our position, published in the County Times last week.
There seems to be a complete lack of joined-up thinking about planning policy changes at all governmental levels. We need to get our plan “made” as soon as possible but are reliant upon HDC to set a referendum date.
We continue to press HDC to deal with the outstanding issues relating to our emerging plan and hope that we can report real progress very soon.
2021: Update on progress May 2021
Horsham District Council have appointed an independent Planning Inspector to review our Plan. He has visited the parish.
He has raised a number of matters for clarification, and to obtain our views on possible alterations to the Plan (all quite minor).
We have responded to his queries and a copy of our Response is here.
We anticipate that his formal report will be available soon. We will consider any matter that he raises and will amend the Plan if we can accept his comments.
Thereafter the Plan will go out to all the residents of the parish at a referendum to seek residents’ approval, and to enable the Plan to pass into law.
2021: 26th February: Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan - Regulation 16 consultation completes
The consultation exercise run by Horsham District Council has now been completed, with 14 responses having been made.
At the time of posting this update we have not been told the substance of those responses.
HDC is now in the process of selecting an independent planning inspector to examine our Plan (under Regulation 17 of the Regulations). We will be able to make representations about the inspector that has been chosen, and subject to that process, the examiner will start work on our Plan.
It is unlikely that the Inspector’s report will be available for some time.
On delivery of the report, we will consider any recommendations made and decide whether those recommendations can be accepted.
When the Plan is in its final form the document will be submitted for approval by residents of the parish at a referendum, arranged by HDC. This will take place sometime later this year.
Further updates will be posted as developments occur.
2020: 18th December: Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan - Regulation 16 consultation
Horsham District Council have now posted the Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan Regulation 16 consultation - click here, review the material and please, give your input to this important step of the process.
2020: 15th December: Update on progress of plan.
The Habitats Regulation Assessment report has at long last been released by South Downs National Park Authority, who are acting on behalf of Horsham District Council. A copy of this report has been placed on this web site.
In accordance with the recommendations of the report minor changes have been made to the Plan, which is now going out for a further consultation process administered by SDNPA. A copy of the revised Plan has also been put up on the web site.
Once this 6-week consultation process has been completed, the Plan and its supporting documents will go before an independent Planning Inspector for review.
Subject to any observations or recommendations made by the Inspector the Plan will be put out for a referendum to be voted on by the residents of the parish. This referendum cannot happen until May 2021 because of government rules made to cope with the Covid-19 situation.
Further updates will be made when developments occur.
2020: 16th October: Update on progress of plan submitted to Horsham District Council in April 2020
An update on the timeline is available here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16AHoczb_NRAIkCBzooyRJvGRzbuLbpIg/view?usp=sharing
2020: 24th June: News on likely Regulation 16 progress from Horsham District Council
News from Horsham District Council on the likely timeframe for Regulation 16 and beyond is at the following link: drive.google.com/file/d/1PEqIKovvzU8hQXu9C0lue5JBnszd9-bF/view?usp=sharing
2020: 22nd April: Regulation 15 submission
The Neighbourhood Plan Regulation 15 submission of the Neighbourhood Plan document and supporting materials has been made to Horsham District Council. HDC will put the plan forward for a further statutory consultation, and then send for review by an independant planning inspector.
2019: 13th December Regulation 14 Consultation closed
The Neighbourhood Plan Regulation 14 statutory consultation pre-submission closed and the Steering Group is reviewing the feedback with a view to potential amendments to the draft Plan.
2019: 1st November - 13th December Regulation 14 Consultation
The Neighbourhood Plan preparation process has now arrived at a statutory consultation phase known as 'Regulation 14'.
Regulation 14 is a mandatory consultation with the Community on a draft of the Plan. Click on the 'Home' tab to find out more.
2019 Autumn update
After the Summer, the Steering Group had what we considered to be draft Plan ready for pre-submission Health Check which is part of Horsham District Council's NP support steps.
The draft was reviewed by Itchingfield Parish Council in their end of September meeting and they agreed that it was ready for HDC's preview.
Tuesday 2nd April - Spring update
The Summer recess period has started, so, a short hiatus of meetings, but not of working on the draft Plan document.
Before the Summer, the Steering Group had brought the draft through several iterations of review and amendment. This will continue through the Summer, interspersed with feedback on the updates from consultants providing technical advice and input on content and structure during ongoing improvement. The Steering Group will remain connected via email and online document sharing.
In the early Autumn, we expect the document to be close to final, looking forward to review by HDC and consultation by members of the Parish.
Tuesday 2nd April - Spring update
The Winter period has been a time of continued progress and consultation for the Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan.
We publicised invitations for volunteers to join a Policy Working Group in early November, and in December and January, the Group came together for 2 workshops in which we discussed policy areas and then refined the ideas.
The workshops were informed also by example policies from successfully-made Neighbourhood Plans from nearby Parishes with broadly-similar local considerations. This helped guide the general tone and balance of the policy draft. The draft wording was subsequently sent to Dowsett Mayhew, our Planning Consultants, for their expert opinion.
During the same period, we kept a weather eye on events and policy developments at the district and national level - updates to the NP Framework, national and district housing need projections, strategic plans, and an update workshop for Parishes hosted by Horsham District Council.
Tuesday 25th October 2018 - Call for Volunteers: Help shape Policies
The Neighbourhood Plan is reaching the stage of final drafting of the Plan itself.
A major part of the Plan will be the inclusion of policies that will be used to reflect the wishes of the parish in relation to any housing developments in the parish. This is a very important stage of the preparation of the Plan.
The Steering Group would welcome the participation of members of the parish in this part of the Plan development. We anticipate that this would involve two or three evenings at workshops in the Village Hall, over the next two months.
If you'd like to get involved and help us, please contact the Parish Clerk on:
clerk@itchingfieldparishcouncil.gov.uk
We look forward to hearing from you, if possible within the next two weeks.
Monday 30th July 2018 – Welcome to the new website for the Itchingfield & Barns Green Neighbourhood Development Plan
Whilst we fully intend to continue with our Facebook and Twitter initiatives on the web it was felt that there was a need to provide an on-line resource that brought all of our various information and communications together
We hope you find it useful and further hope that you return regularly to keep track of our progress in this hugely important initiative