Plumpton Parish Council

Proposed Gypsy and Traveller Site

LDC Documents and Parish Council Response

The Parish council have responded to two new documents that have been released relating to the proposed Traveller and Gypsy Site on the land north of the Old Brickworks.

There was a full District Council meeting on the 26th November.  At this meeting the district councillors voted in favour of sending the Local Plan to the independent examiner.

More details on the meeting can be found here: –    LDC_Meeting_report

The Report for District Councillors is here:
 Lewes District Local Plan Part 2 Site Allocations and Development Management Policies

There is also a Background Paper giving further detail on Policy GT01 which is one policy in the plan that proposed the Traveller and Gypsy Site for Plumpton.

The Background Paper is here:  LPP2_Background Paper

The Parish Councils response to these documents is here:  Parish Council Response

Update History List

Update 29th December 2019

Further to the Local Plan Part 2 Hearing in public last April 2019, the Inspectors report is now released and is available here :-

Inspector’s Final Report December 2019pdf

pdf   Inspector’s Final Report Appendix December 2019

Update 14th August 2019

Residents are reminded that the consultation on the Main Modifications to the Lewes Local Plan Part 2 ends next Monday 19th August. The Parish Council response can be found here:-

LPP2_MM19739182

Update 26th July 2019

Further to the update on 15th July we received a response from LDC planning which can be downloaded here: –

 Letter to Plumpton PC 18.07.19

It is a very straight forward response to which the PC immediately followed up with a request that LDC expand on the first three points, especially on the lack of any guarantees or even reassurances. The answer was simply a statement of fact that the Lewes District Council’s Development Plan: Local Plan Part 1 and saved policies and the Plumpton Neighbourhood Plan (and when adopted the Local Plan Part 2) will be applied when considering any application for planning permission. They added that as a matter of law, any application in connection with the site allocated as GT01 will be determined in accordance with national policies and Lewes District Council’s development plan policies unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

It remains unclear what ‘material considerations’ might mean in practice.

Update 15th July 2019

Following our meeting with LDC officials on the 5th July, we have put in a written request for LDC to respond formally to questions that have been raised by parishioners and have not yet been answered.

The questions can be seen here:-

Questions to LDC Planning Policy Team

The Parish Council recognises that the LDC Local Plan Part 2 (LPP2) covers far more than just the GT01 policy that directly impacts Plumpton. We also acknowledge that LDC has an obligation to meet any local need for a travellers site by identifying deliverable sites for planning. However, the Parish Council remain opposed to GT01 in practice, and once accepted as part of LPP2, we fear the opportunity for anyone to object will be diminished.  The Parish Council will be responding to the consultation (see previous update) to re-state our objections.

Update 8th July 2019

As anticipated in our previous update, the consultation on Lewes District Local Plan Part 2 Main Modifications opened today and runs from 8 Jul 2019 to 19 Aug 2019 at 23:59 .  We have been advised that although all responses will be read, the consultation is on the main modifications only. So unless new evidence has come to light since the hearing in public held last April, comments should focus on the modifications only.

The easiest way to submit comments is via the LDC website, where you can comment on each Main Modification separately. The two consultation documents can also be found and downloaded on the same webpage:

www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/planningconsultation

A report on the meeting held between LDC planning officials and the Parish Council on the 5th July will be issued after the PC meeting scheduled for tomorrow 9th July

 

Update 29th June 2019

Planning inspector continues to include GT01 in the Local Plan Part 2.

Despite the many legitimate planning objections raised by the parish council, by residents, our district and county councillors and by many others the planning inspector has continued to include GT01 in the Local Plan Part 2.

Whilst we await the formal report from the examiner, LDC has published (as part of the upcoming council cabinet meeting on 1st July) preliminary findings that show minor modifications to GT01 relating to a typo and the addition of a condition to connect to mains sewerage. Whilst these modifications may be subject to further amendment via the cabinet, the Parish Council remains very concerned over the implications of any potential development of the site north of the brickworks and has again registered those concerns in writing with LDC. In addition and with help from Rob Banks as our district councillor, we have arranged a meeting with senior LDC planning officials. We will issue a further communication after that meeting.

In summary, we continue to object on various grounds relating to:

  • Development precedent – the site clearly should not be developable according to LDC’s own published strategic documents.
  • Neighbourhood Plan – the site is not consistent with our plan.
  • Statutory obligations – we have received no meaningful answers on various points of planning and wider law. The examination response from LDC that the site is ‘an improvement on existing traveller sites’ seems to fall short of requirements in planning, housing and equality law.

The next stage will be a further public consultation period, which we understand could start as soon as 8th July – The Parish Council will obviously respond to that on your behalf. Subsequent to that, further options such as a judicial review may need to be considered.

The proposed modifications to GT01 can be found here in Appendix 3 from page 32:
    LPP2 – Main modifications for consultation – Appendix 3

The council thanks Rob for notifying us of the LDC cabinet meeting agenda and for his continued support. The full set of papers for the Cabinet meeting can be found here: https://democracy.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=417&MId=2969&Ver=4

Documents

  Plumpton Parish Council Response to Lewes District Local Plan Part 2

The question and answer presentation from LDC planning officers can be found here:

     LDC presentation from the 9th October 2018 meeting.

Responses to questions from the public asked at the meeting on the 9th October below:-

 Questions from the Public asked at the meeting on 9th October