Wealden (Regulation 18) Local Plan Consultation

Wealden Local Plan Consultation Update (16 May 2024)

Thank you to all those who have made comments on the Wealden Local Plan (Regulation 18) consultation. We can confirm that the consultation closed on Friday 10^th May 2024 at 5pm and no further submissions will be accepted.

Comments submitted to us prior to the consultation closing are being processed and uploaded onto our consultation portal currently. All representations are being checked in terms of the General Data Protection Order (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018. The submissions are also being checked as to whether they are defamatory. This process will take several weeks, so if your unable to see your comments online at this stage, then please check back with us at a later date, either via e-mail at planningpolicy@wealden.gov.uk or please telephone 01892 602008.

The Council will assess all the representations made through the Wealden Local Plan (Regulation 18) consultation process and will respond to individual comments at a later date in the calendar year.

Wealden District Council is preparing a new Local Plan. The Local Plan will be the key planning document for Wealden District, excluding the area covered by the South Downs National Park Authority. The South Downs National Park has planning powers for its own area.

The Wealden Local Plan looks ahead to 2040; it will provide a vision for the district, a long-term spatial strategy for growth, including the locations where development will take place. It will provide a range of both strategic and non-strategic policies that will guide development across the district contributing to social, environmental and economic (sustainability) goals. Once adopted, the Local Plan will form part of the Development Plan for the District, replacing all existing local plan policies and will be used to assess and make decisions on planning applications, as well as to inform investment and the provision of infrastructure. The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires that “for the purpose of making any determination under the planning Acts, the determination must be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise”.

This current stage of the local plan (known as Regulation 18) sets out the Council’s draft policies and growth strategy and is an important stage in the plan-making process. It provides an early opportunity for our communities, businesses, landowners, developers, partners and stakeholders to ‘have a say’ and comment on the draft Local Plan before it is considered further and then finalised for the next (Regulation 19) consultation / representation stage.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

We have prepared some Frequently asked questions about the Local Plan. You can read these here:

• Draft Wealden Regulation 18 Local Plan FAQs

How to have your say

The Consultation on the Draft Local Plan will run from 5pm on Friday 15^th March 2024 to 5pm on Friday 10^th May 2024. Whether you have comments on the overall spatial strategy, the vision and objectives, individual site allocations and / or any of the Plan’s draft policies, we really would like to hear from you. This is your opportunity to feed into this process ahead of us developing and testing the plan further before its third and final stage in preparation (Regulation 19) and before submitting the plan to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination.

You can comment on the documents using our online consultation portal.

We have provided Guidance Notes and a video to show you how to use the portal.

All comments received via our consultation portal will receive automatic acknowledgement that they have been received by the Council.

If you do not have access to the internet, then we will accept paper copies of the questionnaire. You can ask someone to download the questionnaire from our consultation portal (see available downloads section) or obtain paper copies from the locations where you can view the Local Plan, see below.

Please email Planningpolicy@wealden.gov.uk or telephone the Planning Policy team on 01892 602008, if you would like any further information, help or assistance.

Consultation Events

Virtual Exhibition – To find out about our draft Local Plan, you can view our virtual exhibition at any time. The virtual exhibition will provide an opportunity to read through information and will provide a link so you can respond to the consultation. Our virtual exhibition is open for anyone to join at any time.

Drop-in Consultation Events – We will be holding a number of consultation events to provide an opportunity for you to find out more, find out how to respond and to ask any questions that you may have on the local plan and other consultation material. The times, dates and locations of the ‘in person’ consultation events is provided below.