Lindfield Society

Co-Chair’s Newsletter January 2026

While planning issues continued to fill The Lindfield Society’s agenda during 2025, the upturn in local building renovation projects provided ample, excellent candidates for our Conservation and Design awards. The Society’s website continues to improve, becoming a hub for local planning news. We had a few hiccups at the start of last year’s Annual Notices and Membership Renewal Campaign via electronic delivery, but more members are now renewing through our website, with payments via Just Giving.

We’ve also been instrumental in collaborating with Lindfield Parish Council to push for proper repair and maintenance of the roadside bollards along Lindfield Pond, and in helping to kick-start the Friends of Lindfield Playgrounds project. Our excellent Talks Programme continues to draw record crowds to King Edward Hall.

Pond Bollards Repair and Maintenance

After years of neglect from West Sussex County Council (WSCC), the deterioration of the Lindfield Pond bollards along High Street became a painful eyesore to everyone. With the promised financial support from the Lindfield Society, Lindfield Parish Council (LPC) was able to enter into fruitful negotiations with WSCC in 2025.

WSCC required a £10,000 co-payment of the total estimated cost of £30,000 to repair and replace the damaged stretch of bollards. WSCC will legally remit title to the LPC for ongoing maintenance and repair. The Lindfield Society will donate £ 5,000 of the co- payment, with LPC contributing the remaining half.

Conservation and Design Awards

The complete renovation of Bay Pond Cottage across High Street from the Pond, the tasteful enlargement of Pondcroft adjacent to the Pond, and the full remodel and enlargement of Old Barn Studio on Chaloner Road were the highlights of the 2025 AGM presentation. The continuing emphasis on upgrading Lindfield’s historic housing is expected to provide several worthy candidates at the 2026 AGM.

Friends of Lindfield Playgrounds

Recognising the sad state of repair of the playground area on Lindfield Common and other spaces, the Friends of Lindfield Playgrounds (FLP) formed a registered charity to assess needed repairs, solicit donations, and oversee the repair and replacement of damaged and unsafe equipment. The Lindfield Society provided £1,000 in start-up funding to help FLP cover initial printing, advertising, and material costs.

Lindfield Society talks programme

Our programme of free talks continues in King Edward Hall. We roamed Sheffield Park Gardens, heard stories from the Sussex Downs, and learned of Wakehurst through the Ages in 2025. In 2026, we’ll learn about the “Secret Sussex Resistance,” and “Brighton Before The Pavilion,” and visit the “Wildlife of the Sussex Coastline.” A complete listing is available on our website and the Jubilee notice board on Denmans Lane, off High Street.

Our talks are well attended and provide a forum where the management committee can discuss current planning issues with the membership.

National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)

The most urgent planning issue is yet another NPPF, published for consultation on 16 December 2025. Our calculation of MSDC’s new mandatory annual housing target is 1,391 dwellings, an increase of 34% from the recent new-build average of 1,035 dwellings.

Our first reading of the proposed NPPF reveals the Government’s intent to significantly speed up the local planning process to implement its stated objective of 1.5 million new dwellings during the current Parliament. This focus on local planning is best summarised by this excerpt from the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook’s 27 November 2025 statement on “Reforming Local Plan-Making.”

“The Government is committed to taking tough action to ensure local authorities have up- to-date local plans in place. While we hope the need will not arise, we have made clear that we are willing to make full use of available intervention powers – including taking over a local authority’s plan making directly – if local plans are not progressed as required.” The consultation period extends through 10 March 2026. We are reviewing the relevant documents and will make strong objections, as well as advise on how our members may express their views.

MSDC District Plan 2021-2039

The MSDC District Plan examination completely fell apart in June 2025, when the Inspector found significant missteps in MSDC’s Duty to Cooperate, and required the Council to restart the District Planning process from the beginning. Subsequent discussions between MSDC and the Planning Inspectorate enabled an additional hearing for MSDC to present its case more fully. This hearing was initially scheduled for January 2026, but the Government’s issuance of new guidance on Reforming Local Plan-Making and the new NPPF temporarily put these issues on hold.

New correspondence from the Planning Inspectorate received on 24 December 2025 provides a significant update. A new and full hearing on the 2021-2039 District Plan will take place over three weeks, provisionally scheduled to commence on Tuesday, 24 February 2026. We will study the documentation and prepare to present our views through consultation or at the hearings.

Gladman Development

Despite a headline-making objection to the Gladman Development (GD) authored and presented by John Dawson on 28 January, the Planning Inspectorate decreed on 2 May that the GD appeal would be allowed.

Colwell Farm Development

A positive planning development occurred with the proposed Colwell Farm Development on the A272, across from its intersection with Snowdrop Lane. Although approved by the MSDC Planning Committee, the proposed 80 dwelling development was refused by a vote of the full Council. While encouraging, this ruling will almost assuredly be appealed. As we’ve seen with the Gladman Development appeal, this decision may very well be overturned.

We want to thank all our members for your continuing support in 2025 and wish you all a very Happy New Year!