Southwater Parish Council Update – Horsham Golf Club Appeal

28^th August 2025

In July, the Planning Inspectorate allowed an appeal to build up to 800 homes and associated facilities on the Horsham Golf Club site. Southwater Parish Council (SPC) published an initial news post at the time, which can be read here: Southwater faces planning uncertainty as appeal allows 800 homes at Horsham Golf Club.

Following this decision, SPC sought independent legal advice from Cornerstone Barristers and planning consultants to consider whether there were grounds to challenge the decision by way of a Judicial Review (JR).

What SPC Did

• Commissioned a detailed legal opinion from Counsel on whether the Inspector had made errors of law.

• Held meetings with Counsel and planning consultants to review the feasibility of a challenge.

• Examined in detail the Inspector’s treatment of the Southwater Neighbourhood Plan, particularly his decision to question its housing requirement and to find that Paragraph 14 of the NPPF was not engaged.

Why SPC Cannot Proceed with Judicial Review

Our barrister advised that while there were arguable flaws in the Inspector’s reasoning, particularly around the Neighbourhood Plan, these were not considered material to the outcome. The Inspector explicitly stated that even if Paragraph 14 applied, the housing land shortfall in Horsham District meant the appeal would still have been allowed.

Because of this, the legal advice was clear: a Judicial Review would almost certainly fail and the courts would be unlikely even to grant permission for the case to be heard.

SPC has published a public-facing legal note, prepared by Cornerstone Barristers, which explains this advice in more detail here.

Horsham District Council’s Action

Since SPC received its legal advice, Horsham District Council has announced that it has initiated its own Judicial Review of the Inspector’s decision (read HDC’s announcement here).

SPC welcomes this action by HDC. Their legal team may be focusing on slightly different aspects of the case, particularly relating to sustainable transport and national planning policy. While our own Counsel advised SPC could not realistically pursue JR on the grounds available to us, we support HDC’s decision to seek the Court’s scrutiny of this appeal outcome.

Next Steps for SPC

• SPC will submit a formal complaint to the Planning Inspectorate regarding the Inspector’s treatment of the Southwater Neighbourhood Plan.

• We will continue to robustly defend the Neighbourhood Plan in all future applications, arguing that Paragraph 14 of the NPPF still provides protection to neighbourhood plans less than five years old.

• SPC will keep residents informed as HDC’s Judicial Review progresses, and as further updates become available on our own complaint to the Inspectorate.
  

SPC has done everything within its power to explore legal challenge. While we cannot bring our own JR, we welcome HDC’s action and remain committed to protecting Southwater’s Neighbourhood Plan and ensuring the community’s voice continues to be heard.