Aldwick councillor resigns from planning role ‘in disgust’

Hugh Coster, an Independent councillor representing Aldwick East at Arun District Council, announced that he would be stepping down from the council’s Planning Committee on Thursday (April 28).

The planning system aims to give local authorities and, by extension, local people a say over which developments can go ahead in their area.

However, Mr Coster said he felt the council was being used as a ‘rubber stamp’ for ‘misguided and damaging government policies’ which ‘disregard local people’.

Speaking during a planning meeting on Thursday, Mr Coster – who is known for measuring roads in the vicinity of new developments with a tape measure to help determine their safety – said: “I’m standing down – more accurately, it could be said that I’m resigning in disgust.

“But that’s not because of any criticism of the chair or the committee or the officers.

“It’s because I consider that we are being used as a rubber stamp; a rubber stamp for the government for misguided and damaging government policies, which really take no account of the effects on local residents, and to me the local residents come first.

“That’s who I was elected by and they come first. I represent them and yet I find here I can do little to protect them.”

Mr Coster said that being a member of the Planning Committee had been ‘a hard job’ but one that is ‘even harder’ for council staff.

He said councillors would often hear from members of the public about controversial planning decisions and ‘get the blame’ for them.

“We can’t do anything about it,” he said, “And it’s really not good enough.

“But what can we do? We’re stuck with it.”

According to figures released in January, Arun District Council missed its housebuilding target set by central government.

Because the council delivered 65 per cent of its target in the three years to March 2021, it now has less flexibility over planning decisions.

All future planning applications have to be considered for approval (so long as they are considered ‘sustainable’ and the benefits outweigh any detrimental impacts).

This is known as the ‘tilted balance’ and is a part of national planning policy.

The situation is considered as the ‘ultimate consequence’ of failing the Housing Delivery Test according to the Local Government Association, something Mr Coster compared to being ‘in special measures’.

For example, ADC could open itself up to appeals from developers if it turns down developments it considers unsuitable.

Mr Coster said he would ‘still be taking a great interest in planning matters’.

Planning Committee chair Terence Chapman gave his ‘profound thanks’ to Mr Coster for serving on the committee.

“I’m actually grateful for his interventions,” Mr Chapman said, “I’m grateful for anybody’s interventions during the debates here,”.

“There’s no doubt Hugh can be a thorn in your side if you’re not careful but he is diligent, he understands his duty, and you can’t ask any more from any elected member of this council.”