Supplementary planning information

About Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) 

Supplementary Guidance Notes are prepared by the Local Planning Authority to provide additional advice and guidance on specific planning issues within the district. They are non-statutory documents, but are a material consideration that the council will take into account when considering an application. In addition to which the council has produced two Supplementary Documents. The council has produced the following Supplementary Planning Guidance, building upon policies in the Local Plan, providing more detailed advice on particular topics or areas:

• Open Space and Recreation Standards 
• Conservation Areas [pdf] 3MB  October 2000   
• Parking Standards 
• Middleton-on-Sea Village Design Statement - December 2000

Update 2022: It should be noted that there may be parts of an SPD that are superseded by more recent legislation including Building Regulations.

Arun District Design Guide Update Adopted 20 February 2024

The Arun District Design Guide SPD was originally adopted by the council in January 2021 and has since proven an effective tool to assist officers, applicants and stakeholders in developing and assessing high-quality design proposals. The 2024 edition of the Design Guide incorporates three new sub-chapters to clarify the council’s expectations for highways and junction design. Following public consultation, the updated Design Guide will be adopted as an SPD and supersede the 2021 edition. Please note however that the scope of the update is limited to chapter F.02, F.03, and F.04, the remainder of the Design Guide will remain as previously adopted – including all references to external publications which may have since been updated or superseded.

For ease of comment, chapter F has also been made available as a stand-alone document. To assist ongoing use of the guide all figure and chapter references remain as per the 2021 edition, though users should note that page numbers have been updated.

The adoption statement and the Design Guide documents can be viewed at Arun Civic Centre and Bognor Regis Town Hall and are also available at the libraries within Arun district and on this page.

FINAL SEA Screening Accessible Arun Design Guide Cycleway [pdf] 413KB

2024 Design Guide Adoption Statement[pdf] 172KB 

ADDG Design Guide SPD Chapter F[pdf] 5MB

ADDG A4 Non-Tech Summary[pdf] 9MB

ADDG Design Guide SPD[pdf] 17MB  

23 January 2024

The Regulation 12 consultation has now ended.

Following the consultation, there are no significant amendments to the Design Guide Update SPD.

The consultation statement can be viewed at Arun Civic Centre and Bognor Regis Town Hall, the libraries within Arun district and on our website for 4 weeks from 23 January to 20 February 2024.

Please see the consultation statement including the modification table: Design Guide update consultation statement 2024 [pdf] 2MB

Arun Parking Standards

Update 2022: Please note that the Building Regulations have been updated (for example recently with respect to electric vehicles). Current and future Building Regulations will take precedence over elements of the Arun Parking Standards where appropriate.

The Arun District Parking Standards takes standards and evidence produced and consulted on by the County Council, along with its own documentation and tailored it to make it applicable to the situation within Arun district.  The Parking Standards SPD relates to the amount of parking, cycle and electric vehicle charging points expected to be provided within development of differing sizes.

The Arun District Council Parking Standards January 2020 SPD was officially adopted at the Full Council meeting of 15 January 2020.  The document and the relevant statement of adoption can be viewed using the links below. The published Arun Parking Standards SPD is replaced by an amended copy in August 2021 to remove two typographical errors; one in paragraph 2.8; and one  in table 2.2. which should clearly have stated that the Electrical Vehicle charging (EVC) point requirement applies per house with “a garage or driveway” (i.e. the inclusion of “and” in place of “or” should not have arisen in the final editing (this is substantiated by the earlier versions and preparatory Planning Policy Sub-Committee reports).

Please note, although not specified in the SPD, parking demand calculations are based on gross internal floor area (GIA) when dealing with planning applications. This is consistent with the West Sussex County Council approach (and nationally described space standards) on which the Arun standard is derived, and which should be adopted when applying the Arun Parking SPD to your development.

Arun Parking Standards SPD[pdf] 1MB
Adoption Statement.pdf[pdf] 627KB

Arun District Public Open Space, Playing Pitches and Built Facilities

The Arun District Council Public Open Space, Playing Pitches and Built Facilities January 2020 SPD was officially adopted at the Full Council meeting of 15 January 2020.  The document, associated Open Space & Play Calculator and the relevant statement of adoption can be viewed using the links below or at Civic Centre, Littlehampton; Bognor Town Hall or any of the libraries within Arun district. 

Please note: addendum June 2020: the Final OS SPD linked below has been edited to delete the following last sentence text in para 4.20 which was incorrect -  In instances where the number of dwellings falls between 34 – 83 there will be a need for on-site provision of a LEAP in addition to an off-site contribution towards a NEAP.”

A simple step by step toolkit to help stakeholders with using the Open Space SPD is found below.

The Open Space .xls Calculator applies thresholds for helping to determine on and off-site contributions. However, with the introduction of the Community Infrastructure Levy (1 April 2020) in Arun, some developments will now be CIL liable and therefore off site provision not permissible via s.106 but will need to be made via CIL monies. Please consult ADC staff should this be the case or if there are other circumstances that affect on-site provision.

Other Guidance

Changing Places toilets

Arun district recognises that there are a proportion of the population with complex disabilities and impairments but that they need to be able to safely and comfortably spend time away from home.  On this basis the district council wish to promote the inclusion of Changing Place Toilets in as many suitable developments as possible.

Changing Places Guide[pdf] 987KB

The leaflet sets out:

• what these should incorporate
• where these can be provided
• the benefits of providing these facilities
• the potential costs involved
• how they can be installed

New Conservation Area 

Craigweil House was designated by Arun District Council on 15 April 2009 as a new Conservation Area. It should be noted that Craigweil House is now an additional Conservation Area supplemental to the list of Conservation Areas shown in the Supplementary Planning Guidance Document published in October 2000.

Accommodation for older people and people with disabilities

This document was consulted on from the 23 May until 20 June 2019. A report on the responses received went to the Planning Policy Sub-committee on 15 October 2019. Following this it was determined that the Accommodation for older people with disabilities guidance (post consultation version)[pdf] 803KB  be a material consideration (Full Council decision 13 November 2019) , the starting point for negotiations to help raise the standards of this type of accommodation and that further work around viability and feasibility would be incorporated into the Local Plan update.

Creating Healthy Places -  a public health and sustainability framework for West Sussex

West Sussex County Council has published ‘Creating Healthy Places – a public health and sustainability framework for West Sussex [pdf]’ which explains what they expect to be considered when forming proposals to address health and wellbeing matters.  On 1 June 2021, the Planning Policy Committee agreed to this as a material consideration when determining planning applications. 

Bognor Regis Green Infrastructure Framework Study

The Bognor Regis GI Framework Study "A Landscape and Green Infrastructure Framework Connecting Bognor Regis to the South Downs National Park (January 2020)" [pdf] 52MB was considered by the Planning Policy Sub-Committee on 25 February 2020 which endorsed the report both for the purposes of assisting the assessment of any planning applications currently under consideration.

Arun Active Travel Study 2020

We commissioned 2020 Consultancy Solutions Ltd to undertake an Active Travel Study for the district (not including those areas within the South Downs National Park). The study identifies how active travel networks connect people and places in the district via walking and cycling to key destinations (such as shops, leisure and places of work) as conveniently as possible, to reduce car use and improve health and wellbeing.  The final study considered at Planning Policy Committee on 1st June 2021 was agreed as a material consideration to inform development management decisions, setting out the five priority ATS routes to be delivered in Arun and can be found on the transport page.

Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) and Article 4 Directions

We have commissioned Building Research Establishment Ltd to evidence the distribution and clustering of Houses in Multiple Occupation in Arun. The research is to inform our approach to both licensing and to regulatory control through the planning system (e.g. designation of Article 4 Directions). Planning Committee on 26 October will consider a report recommending the designation of Article 4 Directions affecting three wards in Arun. The Study is called BRE Integrated Dwelling Level Housing Stock Modelling and Database for Arun District Council: Additional Analysis of the Private Rented Sector including HMOs” and can be accessed here  Arun Additional Analysis BRE [pdf] 4MB

Article 4 Direction

On the 18 January 2023, Arun District Council confirmed a non-immediate Article 4 Direction to remove permitted development rights for the change of use from a dwellinghouse (C3) to a house in multiple occupancy (C4). This came in to force on the 19 January 2023.

This means that a planning application is required to change the use of a dwelling house (use class C3) to a house in multiple occupation (shared houses occupied by between three and six unrelated individuals, as their only or main residence, who share basic amenities such as a kitchen or bathroom).

The Article 4 direction is in wards where existing or future high concentrations of HMOs are considered likely to be harmful to the amenity or wellbeing of local residents and communities. As a result, the making of the Article 4 direction ensures that the issues and impacts arising from this form of development can be properly assessed through planning policy.

Any house that was already in multiple occupation use before that can continue to be used as a shared house.

The area the Article 4 direction applies to covers the below wards:

• River ward in Littlehampton
• Marine ward in Bognor Regis
• Hotham ward in Bognor Regis.

To view the relevant documents:

MA294 A4D River, Hotham and Marine Wards HMO Restrictions[pdf] 4MB

Accordion end

Article 4 Confirmed Report[pdf] 113KB
Article 4 Confirmed Report [HTML]

Planning applications should be submitted through the planning portal which can be accessed below.

Apply for planning permission

Planning noise advice

You can read more information about planning noise advice on the Planning Noise Advice Document Sussex Final v.3 Nov 2023 [pdf] 1MB

You can also view the previous Sussex planning noise advice document 2021 [pdf] 1MB