The South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) became responsible for all planning in the South Downs National Park, from 1 April 2011. The City Council works in partnership with the SDNPA and delivers a planning service on behalf of the SDNPA for the majority of planning cases.
There are two planning authorities for the Winchester District. The City Council covers 60% of the area, and the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) which stretches from Eastbourne to Winchester covers the other 40%.
What does this mean?
- Winchester Planning Department deal with Planning Applications on behalf of the South Downs National Park, which fall in the Winchester District.
- In practice it will mean that anyone wishing to make a planning application would apply to their local planning authority, as normal.
- If you wished to notify us of a possible works being carried out without Planning Permission, you would also contact your local planning authority as normal.
Officers at Winchester City Council will process your enquiry on behalf of the South Downs National Park, but it is important you know if your application is inside or outside the park because the pre-application advice fees and local requirements policies are different. You can check if your site is within the park from the following link: Do I live in the National Park? - South Downs National Park Authority
Compliments, comments and complaints
In partnership with the national park we are committed to providing high quality services and believe that we succeed most of the time. However, we accept that sometimes thing go wrong. If you are unhappy about a service we provide or if you feel we have acted incorrectly or improperly we want to know. The information you give us may help us to put things right for the future. The National Park policy can be found here.
As the City Council acts on behalf of the National Park any compliment, comment or complaint would follow the city councils procedure in the first instance. Compliments and complaints - Winchester City Council