The Claypit application will not be heard at the 11th January 2022 West Sussex County Council (WSCC) Planning Committee meeting, as had been previously indicated.
Why has the date of determination been postponed?
Chris Bartlett, Principal Planner, WSCCl, has informed us that Loxwood Clay Pits Ltd, the applicant, is preparing additional information by way of responses to the objections to the application. They have indicated that they will submit this additional information in the next two to three weeks.
Will we be re-consulted?
Yes. The applicant’s new information will be publicised in the local press and on WSCC’s website. Also, consultees and objectors will be notified individually in the same form as previous objections/comments were made.
There will then be a further 30-day consultation period to give you the opportunity to express your views on the new information submitted.
If the applicant’s additional information is submitted within the timeframe indicated, the consultation period should run from early/mid-January to early/mid-February.
What happens next?
The planning officer will prepare his report recommending either rejection or approval of the application in advance of a planning committee meeting. He will consider ALL information, not just the new submissions. We will see his report approximately 10 days before the planning committee meeting which will hear it.
In light of this new consultation period, the earliest planning committee meeting to hear the application could be Tuesday 8th February, but is more likely to be Tuesday 1st March 2022. However, it could even be later.
Any other questions?
This is not a new application and all original objections and comments still stand.
And yes, we will need you to respond to the additional information provided.
We will keep you updated as fully as we can. When the applicant’s new information is made public we will advise you on how best to respond.
Our new year resolution is to #stoptheclaypit
Let’s be more resolved than ever to win the battle to save our precious woodland.
Thank you again for your fantastic support. We’ll need it more than ever in the new year!
We mustn’t lose momentum now, so do keep displaying those posters to show how passionately you feel about the application.
In the meantime, we wish you a very Merry Christmas.