Horsham District Local Plan 2023-2040

With a strong economy and great countryside, Horsham District is a popular place to live and work.

This also brings challenges to make sure that people have access to the homes and jobs they need whilst continuing to protect and enhance our environment.

To help ensure that new development comes forward in a way that balances these needs, the Council has prepared a new Local Plan for 2023 to 2040. This document contains planning policies to help decide where development will be located and provides the schools and open space that we need. Other policies in the document also seek to deliver increased biodiversity net gain, protect the integrity of our highly valued landscapes, and respond to the climate change emergency.

Latest news

A draft of the Council’s Local Plan (known as ‘Regulation 19) was published in January 2024 for a six week period of feedback. We received around 1,600 responses from individuals, parish councils and other stakeholders.

On Friday 26 July 2024, the draft Local Plan, supporting evidence base documents and all the comments received were formally submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.

The Planning Inspectorate has now appointed a Planning Inspector to carry out an independent examination of the plan. They must consider whether the plan has been prepared in accordance with National Planning Policy, legislation or whether any changes are needed before the plan can be formally ‘adopted’.

As part of the examination process there will be public hearings where relevant respondents will be invited to attend to speak and give evidence on a range of matters, as specified by the Inspector. This is expected to take place in late 2024 and early 2025.

After the hearings, the Inspector will prepare a report setting out their findings and any next steps for the Council.

We will share more information about these hearings on our website