Acceleration of planning decisions following removal of water neutrality restrictions

Crawley Borough Council has scheduled additional Planning Committee meetings in January and February to help catch up on applications delayed by previous water neutrality regulations.

Five committee meetings will be held in the first ten weeks of the year so that applications can be considered without further delay. A large number of planning applications had previously been delayed either in whole or in part by water neutrality regulations. 21 of these need to be considered by the council's Planning Committee – these are mainly major applications, including larger residential development schemes.

This approach follows Natural England’s withdrawal of water neutrality requirements, made possible due to measures agreed with the Environment Agency and Southern Water that cap water abstraction from the Arun Valley.

Residential planning applications delayed by water neutrality include over 1,000 homes, several within the town centre. The council’s expanded committee schedule is designed to unlock these homes as quickly as possible to deliver affordable homes for local people.