Itchingfield neighbourhood planning
Itchingfield Parish has produced a neighbourhood plan which has been subject to successful Examination but was prevented from proceeding to Referendum because of the legal requirements in relation to Water Neutrality and the Habitat Regulations.
To unlock the Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan, further work has been commissioned to address the issue of water. This work and the modifications to the Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan was subject to a focussed consultation. The consultation ran from 2 September 2024 to the 14 October 2024 for 6 weeks. The consultation has now concluded. The Council has considered the representations it received during the focussed consultation on Water Neutrality. The Council has completed a Decision Statement recommending the plan proceed to Referendum and published on 8 November 2024. The Local Plan Inspector has recommended the Horsham District Local Plan is withdrawn in his Interim Findings Letter dated 4 April 2025. Horsham District Council considers this to be a significant change of circumstances. To ensure compliance with Schedule 4B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, Paragraph 12 (6), further modifications are made to the Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan to remove references to the Horsham District Local Plan from the Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan. Additional amendments have also been made to the Neighbourhood Plan for the purpose of correcting cross-referencing errors following publication of the latest version of the NPPF (2024). A schedule of changes can be found in Notice of Factual Updates to the Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan Decision Statement (8 November 2024). The Council is of the view that the Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan as modified complies with legal requirements and went to Referendum on 4 September 2025.
Referendum
A Referendum relating to Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan was held on Thursday 4 September 2025. The question asked in the Referendum was:
“Do you want Horsham District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Itchingfield Parish to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?”
The Referendum recorded a result of 92.05% in favour of yes and 7.94% voted in favour of no. The Declaration of Result relevant to the Referendum is available here:
Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan Referendum Result 4 September 2025
With a successful referendum result, the Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan will be presented at Cabinet on the 8 October to be formally adopted (made) and becomes part of the Development Plan, and will assist in influencing future development decisions in the neighbourhood plan area.
Notice of Referendum
Itchingfield Notice of Referendum 30 July 2025
Information Statement
Itchingfield Information Statement 25 July 2025
Decision Statement
Itchingfield Decision Statement 8 November 2024
Notice of Factual Updates to the Itchingfield NP Decision Statement (8 November 2024)
Representations
Summary of Representations submitted during the period 2 September to 14 October 2024
Neighbourhood Plan Document
Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan Referendum 4 September 2025
Examination
Itchingfield Examiner's Report (16 June 2021)
Itchingfield Parish Council Response to the Examiner's Clarification Note (13 May 2021)
Examiner's Clarification Note (16 April 2021)
Representations to the Regulation 16 consultation can be found below:
Ref 1 ECE Planning (Part 1) (redacted)
Ref 1 ECE Planning (Part 2) (redacted)
Ref 2 Miller Homes (Part I) (redacted)
Ref 2 Miller Homes (Part II) (redacted)
Ref 3 Historic England (redacted)
Ref 5 Inspired Villages (redacted)
Ref 7 Environment Agency (redacted)
Ref 8 Slinfold Parish Council (redacted)
Ref 9 Natural England (redacted)
Ref 10 Surrey County Council (redacted)
Ref 11 Waverley Borough Council (redacted)
Ref 12 Southern Water (redacted)
Ref 13 Sports England (redacted)
Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan (Reg 16)
Itchingfield Parish Council has been preparing a Neighbourhood Plan. The submission draft Itchingfield Neighbourhood plan is out to consultation in line with the Regulation 16 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended). The consultation is for 8 weeks from 5pm 17 December to midnight 11 February 2021. Please click on the link below for further details on how you can comment:
https://strategicplanning.horsham.gov.uk/consult.ti/Itchingfield/consultationHome
Draft-Submission Consultation
Under Regulation 14 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended) the Itchingfield Neighbourhood Plan was out for consultation from 1 November to 13 December 2019.
View the draft Neighbourhood Plan
Approval documents
- Itchingfield-Decision-Notice.pdf (PDF File, 108.4 KB)
- Itchingfield-Designation-Area.pdf (PDF File, 3.3 MB)
- Itchingfield-Designation-Report.pdf (PDF File, 142.3 KB)
Application
Under Regulation 5 and 6, the Itchingfield area application was put out for consultation from June 22 to August 3 2015.