Row erupts after Horsham's Local Plan chucked out by Government inspector

Horsham MP John Milne is now to ask Government housing minister Matthew Pennycook to overturn the inspector’s decision.

Meanwhile, South Downs MP Andrew Griffith is calling for Horsham councillors to resign after saying they ‘rushed through’ the plan.

It follows ‘astonishment’ expressed by Horsham District Council when it was notified by the planning inspector that he wouldn’t allow the plan to proceed and recommended its withdrawal.

The inspector – Luke Fowler – said that the plan should provide significantly more houses and that the Lib Dem council had failed in its ‘duty to cooperate’ with meeting the housing needs of neighbouring Crawley and had failed to do enough to overcome ‘water neutrality’ issues.

But Lib Dem MP John Milne said: “The Inspector’s demand for Horsham to ignore water supply constraints and build in sensitive natural environments is frankly bizarre. He refers to a previous version of the plan dating from 2021, which recommended building at Buck Barn as well as higher targets in West of Ifield and Southwater.

"But absolutely no-one wants to go back to that plan – not even the Conservatives who put it together. I am therefore talking to Matthew Pennycook, Housing Minister, to ask for him to call-in this decision. Far from being rushed, this plan should have been passed years ago under the last [Tory] administration.”

But Tory MP Andrew Griffith said: “Few will be surprised that the planning inspector has ordered the whole plan to be withdrawn.There were concerns from the very beginning that this plan simply wasn’t going to work. It was rushed through by the Lib Dems with Green Party support in an attempt to paper over their dysfunctional councillors.

“Other councils with exactly the same constraints are progressing with their plans, including in Chichester which is also a water-neutrality district. The fallout from this will mean many more months, maybe even years, of uncertainty for communities and the plan-making process.

"If the Lib Dem councillor leadership had an ounce of integrity, resignations would now follow.”