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A neighbourhood plan – which saw local residents and a parish council involved in the planning process – has not been adopted following a legal challenge.

The Barnham and Eastergate Neighbourhood Development Plan for 2019 – 2031 was being reviewed and an updated version was due to be adopted on Wednesday (26 January).

But a full meeting of Arun District Council was told that the neighbourhood plan could not be presented or formally ‘made’ due to a legal challenge.

Planning policy committee chair Richard Bower (Con, East Preston) explained to the meeting that he could not recommend the plan for approval.

The site where 200 new homes are now set to be built south of Barnham railway station

“Unfortunately, I can’t propose the recommendation,” he said.

“We’ve been advised by the council’s monitoring officer that the process of making the modified Barnham and Eastergate Neighbourhood Plan has been challenged by judicial review.

“The council was advised that it is right to accept the developer’s request not to take this item tonight as the developers are likely to get an injunction anyway.”

The revised plan had passed an examination by a planning inspector in October 2021 – one of the final steps in seeing a plan legally adopted.

Christopher Lockhart-Mummery QC, who recommended the plan for approval, concluded that the updated plan did not represent a ‘substantial change’.

If adopted, the plan would have made provision for 117 homes on three different sites.

But a recent appeal, decided last month, overturned Arun’s decision to deny planning permission for 200 homes south of Barnham’s railway station.

Legal challenge stops adoption of Barnham and Eastergate’s updated neighbourhood plan