Minutes:
Question from Ms de Lande Long (read by the Chairman in her absence).
At the Council meeting on November 2, Councillor Hillier referred to the work being done by the Sussex Local Nature Partnership on what will be needed for local nature recovery in this District. How quickly will this work be factored in to planning agreements with regard to the potential development areas that are outlined in the Draft District Plan? How will the Council ensure that the opportunity for preserving or creating essential wildlife corridors is not missed in relation to these sites?
The following response was provided by the Cabinet Member for Economic Growth and Net Zero
Thank you for your question. I agree with you that local nature recovery is important, and we must take a holistic approach. There are many aspects which are key to delivering nature recovery such as agreeing management and protection as part of determining planning applications and agreeing appropriate strategies for the management of any Council owned land which forms part of the network. The emerging draft District Plan sets out a range of new and updated policies to help us achieve improvements to biodiversity. New policies include a requirement for Biodiversity Net Gain and the protection and enhancement of green infrastructure including local nature recovery networks.
The weight we can give to emerging planning policies when considering planning applications is set out in legislation. Unfortunately, in the early stages of plan making only limited weight can be given to these policies but as the plan nears adoption, this begins to improve. At this stage of our plan making, we can only encourage developers to take these new policy requirements into account. However, once the new District Plan is adopted, all planning applications will be assessed against the updated policies – this would also include any site allocated in the Site Allocations DPD applying for permission after the District Plan is adopted.
Furthermore, as you know the Council has agreed a Sustainable Economy Strategy which sets a programme over the next three years to achieve our vision to balance social well-being, environmental protection, and sustainable economic growth. This Strategy sets out Mid Sussex District Council’s commitment to “improve, manage and promote biodiversity and nature recovery” and there are a range of actions identified to help deliver this which go beyond the policies in the District Plan such as the commitment to refresh the Council’s management Plans for our Countryside Sites to ensure that they deliver maximum benefit in terms of biodiversity and environmental impact.
Work on obtaining and mapping habitat data across the district is currently in progress and involves obtaining information from a wide range of sources such as the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre and from ecology studies. This work is being informed by best practice which is shared between the partner authorities within the Sussex Nature Partnership, of which Mid Sussex is a member. Once the data has been collated and mapped, it will inform a nature recovery network for Mid Sussex which itself will inform an emerging Local Nature Recovery strategy for Sussex, and which will include existing and potential wildlife corridors.
So, work on the Recovery Strategy will progress through the early part of 2023, with the intention to inform the next iteration of the District Plan Review (at the Regulation 19 stage).
Finally, and I am proud to say, the draft District Plan proposes Biodiversity Net Gain of 10% on all sites (in line with the requirements set out within the Environment Act) However, we will be seeking 20% on the three proposed ‘significant sites’ (West of Burgess Hill, Sayers Common and Crabbet Park).
I hope that this answers your question and gives you comfort that this authority is committed to, and on top of, its environmental obligations.