Lewes District Council ‘refutes’ comments about multinational planning consultancy contributing to Local Plan

Don’t Urbanise Hamsey sent out a press release on Wednesday, February 5, saying the council had employed AECOM to gather evidence for its Local Plan to help determine land that is suitable for building on.

In it, the group argued that ‘overstretched’ District Council planning departments are depending on multinational planning consultants to help them decide where homes and infrastructure should be built. But they said ‘a lack of local knowledge’ and ‘low levels of community engagement’ are ‘leading to errors’.

A Don’t Urbanise Hamsey spokesperson said: “For over a year now, the local community has been pointing out to Lewes District Council, fundamental errors in the work they have commissioned from AECOM in gathering evidence for Lewes District’s Local Plan. These errors haven’t been corrected, and mistakes are still being made.”

The group said that in putting together one Landscape Assessment, AECOM did not follow ‘the basic guidelines’ set out by Natural England, which recommend planners engage with the local community and key stakeholders.

The group’s spokesperson said: “We can’t understand why they’re not properly engaging with the local community and other key stakeholders.”

Offering another example of a potential error, the group said that in one study, AECOM assessed the view of Cooksbridge and Hamsey from Blackcap and concluded that it is only ‘glimpsed’. They said this statement contradicts South Downs National Park Authority who say the site is ‘highly visible’ from the National Park, including from Blackcap.

In response to these points, a district council spokesperson said: “We refute entirely the comments made about AECOM. AECOM is a leading provider of planning support and advice to local authorities across the UK. Their teams are qualified and experienced in providing robust evidence aligned with industry best practice and work closely with officers to inform sound policy development and decision making.”

Don’t Urbanise Hamsey was formed to oppose the development of up to 1,100 houses between the rural settlements of Hamsey and Cooksbridge. Visit www.DontUrbaniseHamsey.org.

The group’s latest press release said AECOM is a Fortune 500 company, adding: “It is a consultancy that is more accustomed to advising housebuilders and construction companies on the delivery of large projects, than looking objectively at unsuitable development sites on the edge of a National Park.”

The group said one of the sites in the Lewes District that AECOM has been tasked with assessing is greenfield land in Cooksbridge and Hamsey.

A Lewes District Council spokesperson said: “Our Local Plan consultation and engagement with residents, businesses and other organisations has been very successful.

“By making the public consultation as accessible as possible, we have received many thousands of contributions that our officers continue to consider. There are high levels of interest in the current consultation, with residents continuing to share their views and engage with our planning team. These contributions are particularly important at the examination stage when the government’s planning inspector considers all the evidence and listens to submissions.”

AECOM was also approached for comment.