Between November 2025 and January 2026 the Borough Council ran a Regulation 18 consultation on the proposed Local Plan and at this stage Hadlow Residents were made aware of 371 additional properties for the village to be built primarily on existing Green Belt land.
In August an amended Local Plan was published ready for Regulation 19 Consultation, however the amount of housing for Hadlow had been significantly increased to 782 taking up even more Green Belt.
On the 3rd September 2026 this revised Local Plan was discussed by the Borough Councilors and was overwhelmingly rejected by Conservative, Labour, Green and Independent Councillors mainly on the basis that South East Water could only guarantee water supply for around 6000 of the 20000+ houses that Government was insisting was included in the plan.
Despite this rejection, the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook MP, issued an instruction within hours that the Council MUST proceed with the existing plan.
So we have a situation where a Government that was NOT elected locally, has overuled locally elected councillors despite the known ongoing issues the area is experiencing with a failing Water Supplier.
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