East Sussex residents say housing targets are 'unsustainable' and will have a damaging impact on the countryside

Members of the CPRE Sussex Lewes branch made their feelings known at their most recent annual meeting, in which they discussed the government's standard method, a formula to identify the minimum number of homes expected to be planned for each year.

The group said the targets created by the formula were imposing unsustainable housing numbers on the district and were leading to the ‘exact opposite’ of levelling up.

John Kay, planning lead for the CPRE Sussex Lewes District group, said: “Rural districts like Lewes are being given ridiculously high housing targets because of the use of the flawed ‘standard method’ algorithm and the government’s insistence on using obsolete population projections. A developer-led approach to housing delivery is leading to a focus on car-dependent greenfield development. Meanwhile, sustainable urban brownfield sites in Lewes and Newhaven languish derelict for decades.”

CPRE Sussex wants local communities to have a greater say in deciding where new housing should go in their area.

The charity also wants to see local plans prioritising the types of housing needed to alleviate the housing crisis, rather than just focusing on numbers.

Dr Kay said: “The housing crisis is primarily due to the acute shortage of affordable-rented housing. Market-rented housing and opportunities for first time buyers are also in short supply. Many people living in under-occupied large houses would happily step down if high quality, sustainably-located housing was on offer. Yet, none of this is currently being delivered as a priority. The market will not act on its own, we need to give local communities back their power.”

Last week, Lewes MP Maria Caulfield claimed that every green space in the Lewes District was at risk from development if a new local plan was not delivered soon by the council, claiming that the government had scrapped housing targets for local areas.

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Lewes District councillors told SussexWorld that the Lewes MP was spreading ‘fake news’, insisting the government had not scrapped housing targets or changed the national planning framework.

The Lewes District Council also told this newspaper that the planning system is ‘broken’ and currently favours the ‘profitable development’ of greenfield sites.

Councillor Laurence O’Connor, Cabinet member for planning at Lewes District Council, said: “It [the planning system] simply does not address the actual needs of residents within Lewes district, whether they live in the Low Weald villages or in the coastal towns. The government has said that it scrapped the targets but in fact they are simply ‘advisory’. This means that planning inspectors still conclude that decisions taken by district councils to refuse planning applications outside of agreed planning boundaries, are overturned at appeal.

“When it does change the legislation and scrap the targets and scrap the five-year rule, then I am sure the people of this district will be joining us in the streets jumping with joy, but until that point, the government’s own planning framework sets the legal rules in which we operate. When will this government deliver on their promise to fix the broken planning system. I’m not holding my breath.”