7 October 2013
MPs JOIN CPRE SUSSEX AND LOCAL CAMPAIGNERS IN CONDEMNING PLANS FOR NEW TOWN IN SUSSEX COUNTRYSIDE
PHOTOCALL MAYFIELD MARKET TOWN MEETING: Friday 18 October 7.30pm Adastra Hall, Keymer Road, Hassocks
Nick Herbert MP for Arundel and South Downs and Nicholas Soames MP for Mid Sussex will speak at a meeting organised by Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) Sussex and Locals Against Mayfield Building Sprawl (LAMBS) on Friday 18 October 7.30pm.
Large numbers are expected to turn out against plans by developer Mayfield Market Town Ltd to build a new town of 10,000 homes between Henfield and Sayers Common.
Campaigners say that developer’s plans will concrete over precious countryside, precious though not benefitting from any special protection which would provide some chance against the ‘development at all costs’ bias we are seeing in national planning policy implementation. Locals fear that this much loved landscape could be sacrificed to profit over proper planning.
Georgia Wrighton, Director of CPRE Sussex said “Neither plans being developed by Horsham or Mid Sussex District Councils identify the need for proposals being put forward by Mayfield Market Town Ltd, yet local democracy is in danger of being undermined by pressure being put to bear by company interests. The need for housing is undeniable in Sussex but how much, where and how that development is provided must be allowed to be debated locally, not foisted upon communities by have-a-go developers taking advantage of mixed messages from government. We are looking to government to show us that Localism works in practice.”
CPRE say that there is enough brownfield land to build 740,920 new dwellings in the southern regions (London, South East, and the South West)[1] and that developers are holding onto land for 400,000 homes locked up in planning permissions not yet built in the UK [2]. This public meeting follows a major conference held by CPRESussex in March ‘Futureproofing Sussex’ which showcased the CPRE national report ‘Countryside Promises: Planning realities’. The report analyses the way that the government’s planning policy, the National Planning Policy Framework has been applied since its introduction last year, highlighting that the views of local communities have been overruled time and time again with major new housing developments being allowed to sprawl across precious countryside.
Contact: Georgia Wrighton, Director CPRE Sussex 07964894333
Dr Roger Smith, Chair of CPRE Sussex Horsham and Crawley 07450343083
ENDS
Notes
[1] 2009 Government National Land Use Database statistics quoted in the CPRE report, ‘Building on a Small Island’ (2011), available at
www.cpre.org.uk/resources/housing-and-planning/planning/item/2605-building-in-a-small-island.
[2] Taken from Local Government Association report ‘An analysis of unimplemented planning permissions for residential dwellings’ (2012), available at
http://www.local.gov.uk/research-housing/-/journal_content/56/10180/3700057/ARTICLE