The Council successfully challenge the decision in the High Court, and that decision was upheld in the Court of Appeal. As such, the appeal was remitted to the Planning Inspectorate for redetermination.

At the time of the first appeal, the Council was promoting a new Local Plan which proposed to designate the appeal site as a Local Green Gap. The first Inspector found that the development would not undermine the physical or visual separation between the settlements because part of the proposed Gap would remain undeveloped.  By the time of the second appeal, the new Local Plan had been adopted. Notwithstanding the previous findings, the second Inspector accepted that the development would undermine the physical and visual separation of the settlements and cause substantial harm to the Local Green Gap. The erosion of the Gap and landscape harm carried substantial weight in the planning balance. The scheme would also result in modest harm to the South Downs National Park and would not accord with the statutory duty to seek to further the purposes of the National Park, which carried great weight in the planning balance. Overall, the scheme did not comply with the development plan and there were not material considerations justifying a departure from the plan.

A copy of the decision letter can be found here.

Isabella Tafur and Daisy Noble appeared for the local planning authority, Worthing Borough Council.