Lewes and Eastbourne Councils jointly commissioned Clear Futures in 2022 to support their plan-making process, which aims to meet the long-term development needs of residents and to deliver much needed new housing (including affordable housing), economic uses, infrastructure and renewable energy, in the right places, while protecting and enhancing sensitive landscapes and biodiversity.
Areas of expertise include: housing and development needs, housing and land supply, environment and sustainability, landscape and more.
Clear Futures, through its Joint Venture Partner AECOM, has provided Local Plan support to the Councils through both technical experts and additional resources.
The Clear Futures’ expert technical team has enabled the Councils to accelerate and streamline plan-making, and has enabled efficient procurement of multi-disciplinary technical studies from one source, which could then been delivered at speed.
The evidence has been used in a total of 22 technical studies, to inform and underpin the respective draft local plan policies in the following areas.
- Housing and development needs: Local Housing Needs Assessment, Economic Needs Assessments and Retail Needs Assessment, Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) Study, and Newhaven Freight Study.
- Housing land and supply: Housing Land Availability Assessment, Viability Assessment.
- Environment and sustainability: Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, Water Cycle Study, Sustainability Assessment, Biodiversity and Geodiversity Assessment, Habitats Regulation Assessment, Climate adaptation and mitigation study, Building Energy Performance Study.
- Landscape: Landscape Character and Sensitivity Assessments, Townscape and Tall Buildings Impact Study, Site-specific Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment.
Clear Futures also provided planning consultants to augment the Councils’ planning team during busy periods to support the plan-making process, working collaboratively alongside officers at the Councils on Local Plan preparation tasks. This includes providing specialist digital planning and GIS support, allowing the Council to digital capture and present spatial options.
Clear Futures can provide all types of planning services including planning and housing policy, strategic planning, development management, regeneration and digital planning.
