On 31 October 2025, Natural England issued a Withdrawal Statement confirming that its Water Neutrality Position Statement of September 2021 has been withdrawn. This means that development within the Sussex North Water Supply Zone will no longer be required to demonstrate that it is water neutral.

The removal of the water neutrality restriction follows agreement between Southern Water and the Environment Agency that a licence cap on water abstraction will ensure with sufficient certainty that development will not adversely impact the protected Arun Valley habitats. This is the primary element of interest to local authorities in making decisions regarding relevant plans or projects, as it removes connection between abstraction and growth.

While the licence modification addresses issues related to planning, growth, and abstraction, a separate package of measures is proposed to support recovery and enhance ecological resilience at Pulborough Brooks SSSI. Natural England has advised that local authorities are not required to consider these measures when determining relevant plans or projects.

As per Strategic Policy SDC4 of the Crawley Borough Local Plan 2023-2040, with water neutrality requirements having fallen away, the water efficiency standard for development will revert to 110 litres/person/day for residential or the minimum standards for BREEAM ‘Excellent’ within the Water category for non-domestic buildings. This reflects the ‘seriously water stressed’ status of the area. These standards will apply until such time as tighter national standards are introduced, and applicants should be aware that there is a current national consultation on amending the Building Regulations to 100 l/p/d residential use in water stressed areas.

With the Position Statement now withdrawn, we can begin issuing decisions on live applications that have been held up by water neutrality. We will endeavour to clear these as quickly as we can, but please bear with officers as we work to issue the decisions on outstanding applications. Some will be delegated decisions, but a significant number will need to be reported to Planning Committee. We are also likely to receive applications to vary existing water neutrality conditions and legal obligations. Overall, therefore, it is likely to take a number of months to clear the outstanding applications and those seeking amendments to previous approvals.