As you may already know, the SDNPA is currently consulting residents on the latest version of the Local Plan, to be submitted to the Secretary of State for independent review and potential adoption in 2027.

From the Public Meeting held by the Parish Council last week you can download the slides here. They will give you some background as to what the plan is about and what you can do to comment on it – 2026-06-04 EPC Public Meeting re SDNPA LPR – Slides v2

Easebourne Parish Council strongly objected to all 3 sites within the Parish during the previous Regulation 18 consultation. We have already been in touch with the SDNPA to object to their decision in this version of the plan to treat Easebourne as effectively part of Midhurst.

The consultation closes at 23.59 on June 23rd, after which point there will be no further opportunity to comment. So it is vitally important that if you have concerns about the extent of the proposed development and the potential impact on the Parish that you make your comments to the SDNPA before the deadline. You can do this by:

  1. Go to the South Downs National Park Authority website – www.southdowns.gov.uk
  2. Choose ‘Planning’ on the top menu and then ‘New South Downs Local Plan’
  3. Then choose to view the plan by scrolling to https://southdowns-consult.objective.co.uk.
  4. Click ‘Learn More’
  5. On the next page click ‘Go to Event’
  6. The next page will load a huge amount of information about the plan and its content. To make a comment, on the left of the screen click on the arrow next to ‘Site Allocations’
  7. From the drop down click ‘Primary Settlements and Sites’
  8. Now click ‘Midhurst and Easebourne’
  9. As the SDNPA have currently referred to Midhurst and Easebourne as one Primary Settlement all 9 sites are now listed. Choose the site you wish to submit a comment on and the detail will load on the right.
  10. At the top of the page that then loads you can choose to ‘Add comment’. Click that to open up a series of pages you need to complete.

Alternatively…

You can email your name, address and comments on any site or the plan as a whole to planningpolicy@southdowns.gov.uk 

We would be very grateful if you could also copy parishclerk@easebourne.org in to your submission as will we base our submission on all the responses and contacts we receive from Parishioners

You could also write to our MP Andrew Griffiths – andrew.griffith.mp@parliament.uk 

You might also want to write to your other elected local officials, District Councillor Francis Hobbs or County Councillor Tom Richardson.

You could also write to our local or national press.

Remember, the deadline and last chance to comment on this plan is 23.59 on June 23rd 2026. After that the next thing we will hear is whether the sites have been formally approved for development or not.