Have your say by 20th March 2026!

We have created a summary document for our Parish area which we think will help but you can comment on any area or aspect. Please see the PDF below.

We have created a response word document that you can type your answers into and return to us at [email protected] so we may co-ordinate a parish reply. You may alternatively send it directly to Wealden at: [email protected]

The full plan can be accessed on this link: https://www.wealden.gov.uk/UploadedFiles/Draft-Focused-Local-Plan-Accessible-Version.pdf

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 (SDNPA). The SDNPA has planning powers for its own area. 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.

In March 2024, Wealden District Council published a draft local plan (known as Regulation 18) that set out the Council’s draft policies and growth strategy for the plan period. A summary of the main issues to the draft Wealden Local Plan (March 2024) were presented to our Local Plan Sub Committee on 5 March 2025. However, in December 2024, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was updated as well as the calculation on housing need, known as the ‘standard method’ which results in increased housing need within Wealden District compared to that in our March 2024 draft local plan. Subsequently, the Council considered at that Local Plan Sub Committee on 5 March 2025 that a further consultation stage is needed to address those national planning changes and to consider whether further changes to the spatial strategy are required.

This ‘Focused’ Draft Local Plan consultation looks ahead to 2042. The Draft Local Plan focuses on a long-term spatial strategy for growth, including proposed locations for development and it provides a range of draft strategic policies for housing, the economy, town centres and Gypsy and Traveller provision. The Draft Local Plan also provides updates to our affordable housing policy, Sustainable Urban Drainage (SuDS) policy and a new policy on Coastal Change Management Areas (CCMAs). It does not present a full Local Plan draft at this stage. We need focus, through this consultation, on areas updated through the recent national policy changes which give rise to the need for further consideration in that wider context.

The consultation on the ‘Focused’ Draft Local Plan will run from Friday 6 February 2026 to 5pm on Friday 20 March 2026. Any responses received after this cannot be accepted.