The District Plan for Mid Sussex is to be put to a hearing, almost a year after it looked set to be failed by the Planning Inspectorate.
The council launched a legal challenge against the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government after being advised of the potential failure in April.
Now Inspector Louise Nurser has written to the council agreeing to a hearing no earlier than January, 2026.
The Plan aims to guide growth and development within the district up to 2039, protecting the area from speculative development.
The problem highlighted by the Inspector centred around what is known as the Duty to Cooperate. It is a legal requirement that says planning authorities – such as the council – must ‘engage constructively’ with their neighbours on planning issues that cross administrative boundaries.
Leaders were adamant that this was happening and wrote to the Inspector in September asking to discuss things further – and acknowledging that the issue ‘could have been better presented’.
While agreeing to set up a hearing, the Inspector appeared less than impressed with the council’s conduct.
In a letter to Kathryn Hall, the authority’s chief executive, she said she had given the council ‘ample opportunity to present its case’ on the Duty to Cooperate, both in writing and during the original hearing.
She added: “It is most unfortunate and disappointing, to say the least, that despite these opportunities the council feels it has not presented its case as it should have done.
“Your letter offers no illumination as to why that is, or precisely what the council’s shortcomings have been.”
Another hearing was permitted due to new government guidance in October which said Inspectors were expected to exercise a ‘degree of flexibility’ when it came to the Duty to Cooperate.
The Inspector said: “I cannot stress enough that it is imperative that you ensure your case is properly presented at that hearing.”
A council spokesman said: “The council is pleased that the Inspector has offered the council a further hearing. We are working with [the Planning Inspectorate] to secure a date as soon as is possible.”
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