Landowners, developers, site promoters and individuals are invited to put forward sites to be considered through the Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA) as part of the new Rother Local Plan. 

The HELAA will assess the development potential of sites for housing and economic land uses (including renewable energy schemes) across the district and consider whether they are suitable, available and achievable for development over the new Local Plan period (2020-2040). For further information about the HELAA and what it is, please visit the HELAA page. 

The draft HELAA (April 2024) has now been published in support of the public consultation on the draft Rother Local Plan and can be viewed on the consultation webpage. The public consultation runs from 30th April to 23rd July 2024. 

However, we are continuing to accept new site submissions for assessment through the next version of the HELAA. 

To be considered, sites must: 

• meet the minimum size threshold (for housing sites they must be capable of delivering five or more dwellings and for economic development sites the minimum site area is 0.25 hectares or 500 square metres of floor space) OR 
• be a site of any size adjoining a “Development Boundary” designated in the Local Plan, AND; 
• be wholly or partly within Rother district, AND; 
• be submitted by the landowner or submitted with proof of the landowner’s willingness for the site to be considered as part of this process. 

Development Boundaries for the towns and villages are shown in relevant parts of the Development Plan for Rother District. This includes the Development and Site Allocations (DaSA) Local Plan (adopted 2019), the Rother District Local Plan (2006) and Neighbourhood Plans. The current defined Development Boundaries can also be viewed using the Councils Online Policies Map (note that you may need to enable the various development boundaries in the layer selection panel). 

Sites must be submitted to the Council using the site submission form which can be completed online: 

All submissions must be accompanied by a red-edged site plan based on an Ordnance Survey map clearly defining the site boundary, together with any relevant supporting information. 

If you are unable to use the online form, a PDF form can be downloaded by right-clicking the link below and selecting ‘Save target as’ or ‘Save link as’. 

Site Submission Form (October 2020)

If you are using the PDF form, please email the completed form and any attachments back to us at: helaa@rother.gov.uk or send by post to: Planning Policy, Rother District Council, Town Hall, Bexhill on Sea TN39 3JX. 

Please use a separate form for each separate site you submit. 

Please note that it will not be possible for officers to provide feedback on individual sites but all submissions will be assessed, and conclusions detailed in the next version of the HELAA, which will be developed to support the submission (“Regulation 19”) version of the new Rother Local Plan, in line with the timetable set out in the Council’s Local Development Scheme (March 2024).  

We are also seeking sites for new Gypsy and Traveller pitches. For more information or to submit a site, please visit the Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Needs page. 

We have also launched a call for sites for nature, whereby we are seeking to identify land that could contribute to nature recovery and meet Rother’s off-site Biodiversity Net Gain requirements . For more information or to submit a site, please visit the Call for Nature Sites page