East Hoathly with Halland
Neighbourhood Plan
A Vision for our Parish
2022 to 2039
East Hoathly with Halland began preparing a Neighbourhood Plan (NP) in 2017 and it was finally made (adopted) on 16 October 2024. The NP now forms part of the WDC development plan and will be used by WDC to make decisions on planning applications.
The first draft of our NP began amidst the evolution of a new Wealden Local Plan. The Government Planning Inspectorate rejected the Submission Wealden Local Plan in early 2020 and it was formally withdrawn on 19 February 2020. The current Wealden District Council (WDC) statutory development plan consists of the adopted Wealden District Core Strategy Local Plan (February 2013), the saved policies of the adopted Wealden Local Plan (1998) and the Affordable Housing Delivery Local Plan (May 2016). WDC submitted a draft Local Plan for Regulation 18 Public Consultation in March 2024 and we are awaiting the next stage.
This website charts the evolution from our Draft NP to the adopted NP. The NP will be subject to review periodically and updated when necessary. Your comments and suggestions regarding the NP are most welcome and can be made to the Parish Council or via this website.
A Neighbourhood Plan is a document that sets out planning policies for the neighbourhood area – planning policies are used to determine planning applications.
Written by the local community, the people who know and love the area, it gives communities the power to develop a shared vision for their neighbourhood.
It is a powerful tool in ensuring the community gets the right types of development, in the right place.
If you want to read our NP, click here.
If you want to get more information about Neighbourhood Plans then have a look at the Process section and in our Document Library.
The NP was successfully approved in a public referendum on 5 September 2024 with 347 votes in favour and 9 votes against, on a turnout of 28.98%.
The NP was finally made (adopted) by WDC on 16 October 2024.
The Parish Council set up a Steering Group in January 2017 comprised of several Parish Councillors and other members of the community. The Parish Council specified the Terms of Reference for the Steering Group. The individuals forming the Steering Group have changed over time and it is chaired by a Parish Councillor. If you have any expertise relevant to the Steering Group or are just interested in helping in the process, please let us know.
What is the point of having a Neighbourhood Plan ? The answer is simple. It provides the following benefits irrespective of the amount of housing that we eventually have to deal with:
Enhanced Protection - many of our treasured assets are already protected by being designated as Heritage Assets, part of the Conservation Area or designated as things such as Ancient Woodland. A NP provides the opportunity to review these assets and begin the process to enhance these protections. It enables us to review how we make use of these assets and how they might be improved. It also allows us to identify Local Green Spaces that will be given significant protection from future development.
Shape the future of our Parish - to have the opportunity to get the right type of development in the right place.
Community Led Housing - a NP allows us to support a project for a Community Land Trust that will provide low rent houses for local families that will remain outside the private sector.
More Cash for the Parish - any development that takes place in the Parish provides a cash levy (Community Infrastructure Levy - CIL) to WDC to help fund infrastructure projects (mostly outside our Parish). With our NP now in place, the Parish will get 25% of CIL payments to help improve our Parish infrastructure with no capping or retention by WDC.
The beautiful autumnal scene (above) of the London Road approach to East Hoathly has been part of our Home page since 2018 but is now the site of a 205 home development.
