Lower Beeding neighbourhood planning

Lower Beeding 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 Lower Beeding Neighbourhood Plan, further work has been commissioned to address the issue of water. This work and the modifications to the Lower Beeding 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 The Local Plan Inspector has recommended the Horsham District Local Plan is withdrawn in his Interim Findings Letter dated 4 April 2025.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 Lower Beeding Neighbourhood Plan to remove references to the Horsham District Local Plan from the Lower Beeding 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 Lower Beeding Neighbourhood Plan Decision Statement (8 November 2024). The Council is of the view that the Lower Beeding Neighbourhood Plan as modified complies with legal requirements and went to Referendum on 4 September 2025.

Referendum

A Referendum relating to Lower Beeding 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 Lower Beeding Parish to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?”

The Referendum recorded a result of 84.07% in favour of yes and 15.92% voted in favour of no. The Declaration of Result relevant to the Referendum is available here:

Lower Beeding Neighbourhood Plan Referendum Result 4 September 2025

With a successful referendum result, the Lower Beeding Neighbourhood Plan will be presented at Cabinet on the 8 October 2025 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

Lower Beeding Notice of Referendum 30 July 2025

Information Statement

Lower Beeding Information Statement 25 July 2025

Decision Statement

Lower Beeding Decision Statement 8 November 2024

Notice of Factual Updates to the Lower Beeding NP Decision Statement (8 November 2024)

Representations

Summary of Representations submitted during the period 2 September to 14 October 2024

Neighbourhood Plan Document

Lower Beeding Neighbourhood Plan Referendum 4 September 2025

Examination

Examiner's Report (1 July 2021)

Examiner's Clarification Note (26 April 2021)

Lower Beeding Parish Council Response (26 May 2021)

Lower Beeding Parish Council Response - Appendix 1 (26 May 2021)

Representations to the Regulation 16 consultation can be found below:

Ref 1 Natural England (redacted)

Ref 2 Sport England (redacted)

Ref 3 Individual (redacted)

Ref 4 Devine Homes (Part I) (redacted)

Ref 4 Devine Homes (Part II) (redacted)

Ref 5 HDC (redacted)

Ref 6 Southern Water (redacted)

Ref 7 Historic England ( redacted)

Ref 8 Surrey CC (Waste and Minerals) (redacted)

Ref 9 Individual (redacted)

Ref 10 Environment Agency (redacted)

Ref 11 Individual (redacted)

Ref 12 Individual (redacted)

Ref 13 Individual (redacted)

Ref 14 Individual (redacted)

Ref 15 Boakes Land Projects (redacted)

Ref 16 Millwood Designer Homes (Part I)

Reg 16 Millwood Designer Homes (Part II)

Ref 17 WSCC (redacted)

Ref 18 Individual (redacted)

Ref 19 WSP Planning (redacted)

Lower Beeding Neighbourhood Plan (Reg 16)

Lower Beeding Parish Council has been preparing a Neighbourhood Plan. The submission draft Lower Beeding 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/LowerBeeding/consultationHome

Area approval

The Lower Beeding Neighbourhood Plan Area was approved on 23 December 2015.

Approval documents

Application

Under Regulation 5 and 6, the Lower Beeding area application was put out for consultation from November 17 to December 22 2015.