Lewes District Council Leader says government’s ‘misguided’ planning reforms risk unwanted development

At a Full Council meeting on Monday, September 30, councillor Zoe Nicholson called the government’s proposed national planning reforms ‘misguided’, warning they could have ‘very negative consequences’ if they delay the progress of the new Local Plan.

She said: “There are many residents and groups who, like me, care deeply about how government planning policies impact on the district and know they will have contributed to the recent consultation on the draft National Planning Policy Framework. I’m grateful to them all and hope that the Secretary of State will really listen and not ride roughshod over our views and concerns.

“We have managed an extensive consultation exercise of our own with residents on the new Local Plan, a process that thousands of residents have contributed to, and it is critical that we don’t now have misguided policy changes handed down by the government that undermine all the work we have completed.”

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Councillors fear delays to the Local Plan would increase the likelihood of more speculative applications for unwanted developments.

Councillor Nicholson said: “We support the government’s emphasis on building on brownfield sites, but the prospect of having to find even more sites for housing in locations that are not supported by anyone in the district, is one this council would find intolerable. We are calling for actual assessments of local housing need and conditions to shape future housing supply and an end to mandatory targets that bear no relation to local geography, demographics and the views of our residents.”