Purpose

A
Northern West Sussex Housing Needs SoCG was approved by the Head of
Service for Economy and Planning on 22 July 2024. The 2024 version
of the SoCG was published on the Crawley Borough Council webpage.
This supported the submission of the Mid Sussex District Plan and
the Horsham District Local Plan for their independent
examinations.
Since the previous version of the SoCG was agreed, there has been
substantial delay in the progression of both the Mid Sussex
District Plan and Horsham District Local Plan. Both councils have
recently been notified by the Planning Inspectorate of a change in
Planning Inspector and Mid Sussex District Council has been given
dates for its Examination Hearing sessions to commence.
On this basis, the SoCG has been revised to reflect factual changes
and the progress made since July 2024. Critically, this includes
the adoption of the Crawley Borough Local Plan 2023 to 2040 in
October 2024, and the establishment of the level of unmet housing
need arising from the borough.
As this is an update on the 2024 SoCG to support the examination of
the two neighbouring authorities’ Local Plans, it has been
signed off by the Head of Service, in accordance with the
delegation scheme.
The revised February 2026 SoCG is available
online.

Content

To approve the updated version of the Northern
West Sussex Housing Needs Statement of Common Ground.

Alternative options considered

Option 1 - To not update the Statement of
Common Ground (SoCG). However, up-to-date SoCGs signed by all
parties are required for the legal compliance and soundness of the
Crawley Borough Local Plan, Mid Sussex District Plan and the
Horsham District Local Plan. It is helpful to confirm the level of
unmet need arising from Crawley borough to ensure this is
adequately taken into account in the examination of the two
neighbouring plans.
Option 2 - To update the Statement of Common Ground and approve the
updated version.