Developers Sussex minutes: 14 July 2026
Meeting details
Date: 14 July 2026
Time: 3pm
Location: Microsoft Teams
See the list of attendees and apologies for this meeting.
1. Welcome and introductions
1.1 JB welcomed the attendees to the meeting, and welcomed MW, Director of Place at Brighton and Hove City Council, to the DeS forum.
2. Review of previous minutes, 12 May 2026
2.1 There were no actions from the previous meeting. The minutes were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.
3. Market conditions / open forum
3.1 The group discussed the current state of the market, and noted that whilst both the residential and commercial markets continue to perform reasonably well, there are definite signs of them slowing down. Developers are still busy at the planning stage – there is an obvious housing need, coupled with a receptive planning system and a broadening of client types on the delivery side (e.g. ‘for profit’ Registered Providers) which is helpful and is a positive sign in terms of delivery, but anecdotal evidence suggests a reduction in the use of materials (amount of concrete, numbers of bricks etc) which suggests a lack of building. Overall, the market is still short of where it needs to be.
3.2 DeS colleagues agreed that confidence continues to be the main barrier, with external conditions at local, national and international levels – unconfirmed boundaries for local government reorganisation, a new incoming UK Prime Minister and Cabinet, the US imposing cargo levies on the Hormuz Strait – causing ongoing nervousness and uncertainty.
4. Giving a voice to the silent majority in favour of new homes
4.1 MDd delivered a presentation exploring how local views on new housing can be better understood and represented throughout the planning process, as conversations are often dominated by the ‘loudest’ voices, missing those who may support, need or be open to new homes in their area. Conducting more representative engagement can help create a fuller picture of community opinion, from early research and pre-application engagement through to submissions, committee and appeal – all of which enables better decision-making and more balanced conversations about development.
4.2 The group gave its collective support to the propositions presented. CB observed that identifying positive/supportive people to attend Planning Committee meetings makes an enormous difference, and encouraged others to do so, as it offers councillors a genuine reason to say yes on the night.
4.3 MDd encouraged colleagues to move away from ‘negative’ engagement, i.e. don’t simply assume all feedback will be negative, thereby inducing you to engage less, but go out and do more representative engagement – stop relying on the 1-2% who have the loudest voices. To assist, Shared Voice is currently putting together a “good practice guide” to engagement, which MDd agreed to share.
Action: MDd to share her “good practice guide” to engagement in the planning system from Shared Voice, when it’s completed.
5. Planning for Health: Public Health update
5.1 BB delivered a presentation on the work of East Sussex County Council’s Public Health: Healthy Places team and its impact/crossover with DeS’s remit. The presentation covered the team’s work with Local Planning Authorities, including Strategic Health and Wellbeing policies and requirements for Health Impact Assessments (HIA) within Regulation 18 Local Plans; an introduction to the East Sussex Planning for Health, Wellbeing and Sustainability Framework; the East Sussex HIA Toolkit that supports the work on Local Plans; and an overview of how the team now responds to planning applications from a health perspective, with examples of where they’ve influenced decisions.
5.2 Both the Framework and the HIA Toolkit can be viewed on the County Council website: ESCC Planning for Health. The Public Health team welcomes any feedback, and BB also agreed to come back to a future meeting to provide more detailed information on the HIA process, including its benefits, if this would be of use to DeS colleagues.
6. Homes England update
6.1 Building on his previous update, RM advised that the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP), which launched in February 2026, plus the new National Housing Bank and National Housing Delivery Fund, which both launched in April 2026, have all experienced very high levels of traffic. As a result, the initial loan triage stage is taking much longer in many cases, but additional staff are being recruited to help.
6.2 Additional staff are also being recruited to the ‘South’ region (led by Kate McBride, Executive Regional Director), as the regionalised operating model of Homes England continues to operate effectively.
6.3 RM noted that there is currently a freeze on major spend while we await the formal appointment of a new Prime Minister (fully expected to be Andy Burnham), but Homes England is still engaging at every level.
6.4 The group briefly discussed Andy Burnham’s positive stance on affordable housing and council housing, which may lead to a push in these areas in the coming months. But a note of caution: if Registered Provider (RP) capacity is going into SAHP, an unintended consequence may be less capacity for S106 and council homes – something for colleagues to keep an eye on and feed back to MHCLG.
6.5 BHk asked when Homes England would be making a decision on its new ‘strategic partners’ for affordable homes, having heard (anecdotally) that traditional RPs have significantly underbid, and it will be councils who are required to step up. RM speculated that an October announcement is likely. NF commented that it’s this kind of indecision that is causing concern for the industry – and therefore affecting confidence – so information should be shared with a sense of urgency.
7. Other DeS updates – for information
7.1 MC provided an update from the East Sussex Housing Partnership:
7.2 Work on the pan-Sussex strategic needs assessment for supported housing is beginning, and partners are encouraged to share their insights. The partnership will report back findings from the needs assessment in the autumn.
7.3 Links are developing with the new Sussex and Brighton Strategic Authority (SBSA) ahead of them developing their Prosperity Strategy over the summer and autumn. A shortage of affordable housing locally has been identified as a barrier to growth. The housing partnership is also working with the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) to strengthen links with housing partnerships in Sussex, and will be keen to link this to the continuing Sussex-wide outreach of DeS.
7.4 Housing colleagues are preparing for a future round of the Brownfield Land Release Fund from MHCLG in the autumn. The preparation work includes mapping land-led opportunities across the county.
8. Any other business (AOB)
8.1 None.
Summary of actions
4.3 MDd to share her “good practice guide” to engagement in the planning system from Shared Voice, when it’s completed.
Attendees and apologies
Attendees
- BB, Beverley Bayliss, East Sussex CC
- BHk, Ben Hook, Crawley BC
- BHr, Brian Horton, South East Housing & Development Group
- CB, Chris Bending, Wealden DC
- DE, Dave Evans, East Sussex CC
- DS, David Smith, South East Consortium
- ES, Edward Sheath, East Sussex CC
- GQ, Graeme Quinnell, Rother DC
- HD, Huw Davies, Sea Change Sussex
- HF, Hayley Frankham, Wealden DC
- JB, Jonathan Buckwell, DHA Planning (CHAIR)
- JF, John Farnaby, National Highways
- LB, Lucinda Batcheler, Cavendish Consulting
- MB, Mark Bewsey, DHA Planning
- MC, Michael Courts, East Sussex CC
- MDd, Millie Dodd, Shared Voice
- MW, Max Woodford, Brighton and Hove City Council
- NF, Nick Fenton, Nick Fenton Associates
- PD, Paul Duffy, Betteridge & Millsom
- RB, Rick Bhatia, Southern Housing
- RJ, Richard Jones, East Sussex CC
- RM, Rob Moore, Homes England
- SL, Steven Lewis, Southern Water
Apologies
- AF, Amy Fearn, Rother DC
- AW, Alistair Wickens, Team East Sussex (TES)
- CM, Chris Moore, Bellway Homes
- JM, Josh Mellor, Marrons
- JO, Jane Owen, MHCLG
- MDf, Marc Dorfman, Eastbourne BC / Lewes DC
- VC, Victoria Conheady, Hastings BC