Duty to co-operate

In March 2012, as required by the Localism Act 2011, public bodies have a duty to cooperate on planning issues that cross administrative boundaries.  Local authorities are expected to demonstrate evidence of having co-operated with a range of bodies prescribed by the regulations where it is appropriate to do so in order to enable the delivery of sustainable development.  Furthermore, local authorities are required to document the outcome of such co-operation and to identify both those that have been dealt with and how, as well as those that remain and any unresolved issues.

For the majority of instances, co-operative planning is undertaken through the Coastal West Sussex and Greater Brighton Planning Board.  This currently includes Chichester, Arun, Worthing and Adur, Brighton & Hove, Lewes, Mid Sussex, Horsham, SDNPA, West Sussex CC and East Sussex CC.  Evidence and documents produced through this route can be seen under the Other Activities tab below. Importantly the council also engages with Members through the Planning Policy Sub-committee, the Parish Councils and other service providers.  The information relating to each of these activities/groups can be seen using one of the first two tabs below.

Statements of Common Ground and Memorandums of Understanding that were agreed during the Local Plan examination can be found on the other activities link below or within the evidence and supporting documents page.

Chichester District Council

Arun District Council continues to engage with Chichester District Council (CDC), on respective plan making activities and strategic cross boundary planning matters. The following list of correspondence has been sent in responses to Chichester’s further work in preparation the Regulation 19 publication plan:-

Horsham District Council

Arun District Council continues to engage with Horsham District Council, on respective plan-making activities and strategic cross-boundary planning matters. The following is a list of correspondence and any agreements agreed between the councils:

Waste water - water neutrality and nitrate neutrality

The council continues to engage with Southern Water, Natural England and the Environment Agency on waste water treatment capacity of the authority’s water catchment areas, including water quality, nitrate pollution and ground water abstraction. In Arun’s neighbouring authorities, the issues of nitrate pollution and water abstraction have generated emergent environmental issues for sensitive internationally protected habitat designations. As a consequence, in some areas, there are restrictions on determining planning applications until nitrate and water neutrality can be demonstrated. While this is not currently an issue in Arun, the recent position statements issued by Southern Water, Natural England and the Environment Agency, will help to guide Arun’s approach to plan making in the future, in response to the effects of climate change.

Three Harbours

This is a strategy that has been drafted for the harbours of Chichester, Langstone and Pagham Harbour. It talks of the joint issues affecting them and suggests future actions.