Two Cabinet councillors are calling on the government to allow Lewes District Council to move ahead with the Local Plan amid national planning reforms which would delay its progress.
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Councillors Zoe Nicholson, Council Leader and Councillor Laurence O’Connor, Cabinet Member for Planning and Infrastructure, have written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government, Angela Rayner MP.
They are urging town and parish councils in the district to send her similar letters supporting their call to let the authority go ahead with next steps for the Local Plan as scheduled, rather than be subject to new policy reforms which would have ‘very negative repercussions’.
Councillor Nicholson said: “These reforms mean we would have to redo much of our completed work and find even more sites for housing, in complete contradiction to what local people have told us they want during our successful Local Plan consultations, which have engaged tens of thousands in our community.
“We have heard loud and clear that people have had enough of the massive housing growth in our district over the past 10 years, and at a time when the UK is recognised as the most nature depleted country in Europe, it is crucial that we protect our green spaces from unwanted development.
“The geography and demographic of our district means finding extra housing sites is extremely challenging, but we have worked incredibly hard on our Local Plan to ensure the right homes are built in the right places and all that work must not now be undone.”
As Lewes District Council has been designated in respect of planning applications for major developments, councillors say delays to the Local Plan would increase the prospect of unplanned developments.
Councillor O’Connor said: “While we welcome new draft guidance on brownfield first developments and government support for homes for those most in need, these wider reforms have very negative repercussions and couldn’t have come at a worse point, causing delays and leaving us more open to speculative development from greedy developers.
“We are preparing to share the outcome of our latest Local Plan consultation document and changing the goal posts so far along the process is unfair to all those in the community who have engaged with it already.”
