Call For Sites 2023 guidance notes

Guide for submission 

Housing 

Sites for housing-led development must be able to accommodate 5 or more additional dwellings or be at least 0.25 hectares (ha) in area. Housing can also include potential uses for Care Homes (C2 Use), communal accommodation such as student housing or accommodation for older people or people with disabilities. 

Economic development 

Sites for economic development must be a minimum of 0.25 hectares (ha) or be able to accommodate 500 square metres or above of additional floor space. 

Employment land is classed as general industrial, storage and distribution uses, such as B2 and B8 Use Classes. We also are interested in Use Class for example – commercial, business and service such as offices and research and development facilities. 

Brownfield Land Register 

There is a legal requirement for us to maintain a Brownfield Land Register of previously developed sites that are capable of being redeveloped or converted to provide housing-led development.  
All sites must meet the definition of 'previously developed land' contained in the National Planning Policy Framework - on the GOV.UK website. 

Gypsy & traveller and travelling showpersons sites 

All gypsy and traveller qualifying sites submitted will be assessed to ensure they can help to provide a supply of suitable, available and achievable land to meet future gypsy, taveller and travelling showpeople needs.

 Custom and self-build housing 

We are interested in potential plots for custom or self-build housing opportunities. Sites must be able to accommodate an estimated yield of 5 dwellings or more. This includes sites for market and affordable housing; sites that can accommodate serviced plots for self-build and custom housebuilding in accordance with the definition set out in the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015. 

Leisure and tourism 

We are interested in potential areas for tourism and leisure use such as hotels (C1 Use Class), large-scale leisure accommodation, additional camping/caravan provision and glamping developments. Further information is contained within the report Arun Visitor Economy Study 2022.

Biodiversity Net Gain (Offsetting)

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is an approach to development and land management that aims to leave biodiversity in a measurably better state than it was beforehand. This may mean the development of land, will require off-site improvements to enhance biodiversity elsewhere in order to deliver net gains. Therefore we are interested in receiving submissions of sites that you think would be suitable for providing net gain for biodiversity for those instances where it is not possible to achieve net gains on a development site.  
All sites being put forward in regard to Biodiversity Net Gain Offsetting should be a minimum of 0.25ha in size and there should be a general commitment to this use to be maintained overall for a period of 30 years. Sites submitted for this purpose must not be existing private gardens or sites statutorily designated for nature purposes, such as SSSI or SPAs.  

We published a Biodiversity Net Gain Study in 2022, which shows those areas of the highest strategic significance for biodiversity and includes some additional areas of stepping stones or corridors between. 

Blue/green infrastructure or renewable energy

We declared a climate emergency in January 2020, to reduce carbon emissions by 2030 and for all impacts and mitigation of climate change be incorporated into all policies and decision-making. Information on this can be found on our climate change web page and the decision can be found in these minutes. 

As such, we are keen to encourage any proposals which are in line with the purposes of mitigation of climate change impacts such as loss of biodiversity/flooding from any source, to be submitted under this category. This could include nature-based flood management, carbon capture, (wetlands), carbon reduction via renewable and decentralised energy for example:

  • solar
  • wind
  • wave
  • geothermal
  • pumped water storage

Further information

Please note, we will give due consideration to all sites put forward in the Call for Sites exercise. However, they will be assessed against planning policy and other relevant considerations. Submitting details of a particular site does not guarantee that we will support or allocate the site for development, or necessarily grant planning permission. 
Before submitting details of a site, you should be aware of the following: 

  • sites must be within the Local Planning Authority area of Arun District Council
  • all the sites proposed will be publicly available, to ensure that the site selection process meets the statutory requirements of the plan-making process
  • confidential proposals cannot be accepted, as we will need to be able to contact you in the future or to clarify some of the information included in your submission, site details of which will be made publicly available. You may wish to use an agent such as a planning consultant, solicitor, or estate agent, to submit proposals on your behalf. However, there is a cost implication to you for doing so
  • sites put forward will also be subject to assessment as part of future updates

How to submit site proposals

The following should be done:

  • sites put forward for consideration should be submitted using the Call for Sites e-form
  • a separate e-form should be completed for each site
  • provide as much detail as possible. We recognise that it might be difficult to provide more detailed information related to the sites, however, detailed information will help us to assess the suitability of the sites
  • each request should be supported by an accurate map. The submission site should be edged clearly with a red line, and include all land to be considered as part of the process

Submission details 

Sites should be submitted by completing our Call for Sites e-form

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) 

Please ensure you read the accompanying Privacy Notice in the e-form before completing the form. By returning the e-form form you are ‘opting in’ to us holding data in line with the Privacy Notice. 

Detailed pro-forma guidance 

Your details 

Your contact details are required. Please note that site submissions cannot be treated as confidential. If you are/have an agent employed to act on someone else’s/your behalf, please fill out both your own and your client’s/agent’s details. 
Status: Please confirm your status as applicant. Please identify all that apply. 

Site Ownership

You do not need to be the owner of the site to put it forward for development. If you know the details of the site owner(s), please give us their details. If there is more than one owner, please indicate the extent of individual landholdings on the site map. Please also indicate whether the site owner(s) shows support for its proposed development. 
We do not usually hold information on who owns land (apart from our own) If you require details of who owns a particular site, we suggest you contact the government’s online Land Registry who can run a search for you (please note that there is a charge for using this.) 

Site details 

We need to be able to precisely identify the locations and boundaries of all submitted sites. Therefore, it is essential that you supply a map of suitable quality (preferably on an Ordnance Survey (OS) base at an appropriate scale e.g. 1:1250), clearly showing the detailed site boundaries. Site boundaries should be marked in red. Any neighbouring land that you own should be marked in blue. If you are proposing for different uses such as  BNG offset, then that will need to be clearly defined within the red site boundary.
 
More than one site boundary may be marked on one map, for example, if they are close together, provided the sites are clearly labelled and the boundaries remain clear. If you are the landowner, a Land Registry map will normally suffice. 

Unfortunately, due to OS copyright and licensing restrictions, we are unable to provide blank maps for this exercise. If you need to obtain a map, the government’s online planning portal has a list of accredited suppliers that can provide suitable maps (please note that these suppliers will charge you for using their service). Other suppliers may also offer similar services. For more information, please visit the planning portal. In addition, please tell us the name of the site that it is commonly known by and its location. If known, it would be helpful if you could tell us its approximate size in hectares.  

Availability 

Please state when you believe the site could be made available for development. 
If the site is not immediately available, please state which year it could be available for development and explain why such as listing the main constraint(s) or delaying factor(s) and actions necessary to remove these. 

Proposed uses and capacity 

We are inviting site suggestions for uses such as housing, employment, retail, leisure and tourism, biodiversity net gain (offsetting) and blue/green infrastructure or renewable energy. 
Please indicate the preferred use that you would like the site to be considered for and also indicate what other uses you would also consider acceptable. Please tick all boxes that apply. 
You should also indicate the potential capacity of the site, such as the number of properties and approximate density, or the amount of floor space in square metres (but if you prefer to work in square feet, state this instead), and whether any design work has been done. 

Suitability 

To the best of your knowledge, indicate the severity of any constraints that may affect how easily or quickly the site could be developed. Please provide evidence, wherever possible, to support statements made on the form. It is important to note that we will make our own assessment of these matters for each site, perhaps in consultation with utility providers or the highways authority. We may sometimes come to a different conclusion than that submitted on the form. However, any information provided on these forms will be a useful starting point in assessing each site. If there are any other constraints not listed on the form that you are aware of, please tell us in the space provided. 

Achievability 

We need to ensure that we capture enough information to ascertain whether the site can achieve the proposed use including its viability. To the best of your knowledge, please indicate all the viability issues which could affect the development. 

Deliverability 

This section needs to be filled out accurately so that we are able to assess the site’s deliverability and in the right period.  

The revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out components of delivering a sufficient supply of homes. One of the key components is the strengthening of the definition of ‘deliverable’. To be considered deliverable, sites for housing should be available now, offer a suitable location for development now, and be achievable with a realistic prospect that housing will be delivered on the site within five years. (Extract from NPPF).
As part of this thrust on the supply of homes, the government places significant emphasis on securing a 5 year housing land supply (5yr HLS) using more robust evidence in order to ensure that housing policies are up to date and delivering housing targets so this section is very important to demonstrate this deliverability. 

Additional comments 

Space has been provided for you to tell us anything else of relevance regarding the site, if not covered by any of the other sections and an optional area to provide additional attachments such as plans or additional documents.