DEVASSIST: Horsham Council Seeks Judicial Review of Inspector’s Approval for 800 Homes
Horsham District Council has begun legal proceedings to challenge a planning inspector’s decision to adhere to the consent of 800 homes on an unallocated greenfield site.
The authority argues the ruling contained “significant legal errors” and diminishes confidence in local planning.
Background to the scheme
The site in question is Horsham Golf and Fitness on Worthing Road, where developer Generator Group had lodged an application in June 2023 to build 800 homes across 55.6 hectares, along with a local centre, golf facilities and hockey pitches.
The council rejected the plans in May 2024 on the grounds that the land was not allocated in the council’s “Troubled Emerging Local Plan” or the Southwater Parish Council’s “Neighbourhood Plan”. It also raised concerns about “landscape and visual harm” and a lack of facilitation for “non-car modes of transport”.
Inspector’s decision
After the developer’s appeal, inspector Dominic Young overturned the refusal in July. He pointed to “significant obstacles” when facing the adoption of Horsham’s emerging local plan, concluding that settlement boundaries were out-of-date. He stated, “It follows that the same boundaries within the Southwater Neighbourhood Plan must also be out-of-date.”
Young gave “very limited weight” to policy conflicts with the neighbourhood plan, stating that the council had already accepted the possibility of circumstances where such conflicts would not be decisive.
He also found that the scheme offered “excellent access to public transport, good opportunities for cycling, car sharing and the use of ultra-low or zero emission vehicles” and “moderate opportunities for walking”. On this basis, he concluded residents would not be “overly reliant on car journeys”.
The inspector placed “very substantial weight” on the housing delivery, stressing the importance of 800 new homes in a district with what he described as a “lamentable housing land supply record.” Horsham can only currently demonstrate a one-year supply, in comparison to the required five years. Young said there was “no realistic prospect” of addressing the shortfall in the near future.
Council’s legal challenge
On 22 August, Horsham District Council confirmed it had lodged a judicial review. It argues that national planning policy, which seeks to prioritise sustainable locations, had been misapplied, and that the inspector was wrong to treat the Southwater Neighbourhood Plan as out of date, despite the adoption of the plan being only three years old.
The authority said it had worked with Active Travel England in preparing its case.
Ruth Fletcher, cabinet member for planning, commented that the decision “undermines the integrity of the neighbourhood plan process in determining that the Southwater Neighbourhood Plan, adopted in 2021, is out of date.” She then added, “It is vital for public confidence in the planning system that such matters are scrutinised by the courts.”
Ongoing planning disputes
The move comes as Horsham District Council faces broader planning difficulties. A separate inspector, Luke Fleming, has recommended that the authority withdraw its local plan from examination. In July, the council also insinuated they may lodge a complaint about Fleming’s “decision-making process”.
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