Lewes MP welcomes government intervention on ‘failing planners’ while council defends decision to protect district from ‘unwanted development’

Conservative Maria Caulfield said Lewes District Council were designated under S62A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 on Wednesday, May 8.

She said applications for major development (more than ten houses) can now be made directly to the planning inspectorate instead of through LDC’s planning department.

The MP said the decision was made because the Minister of State for Housing is not satisfied with the performance of LDC ‘in relation to the quality of decision making on planning applications for major development’.

She said: “It is extremely disappointing that the Lib Dems, Greens and Labour on LDC’s planning committee have failed in their duty to the residents of Lewes District. There lack of a local plan means housing development across Seaford, Newhaven and Lewes is being dictated by developers and not building the housing we need locally.”

She said developers going directly to the planning inspector will ‘only exacerbate the problem’ but said the council ‘has no functioning planning department’.

Call for action as Newhaven ring road water leak continues

The MP said the council needs their Local Plan in place to protect green spaces from development. The council must now prepare an action plan for approval by the Department that addresses areas of weakness that led to it being designated.

LDC leader Zoe Nicholson and Cabinet Member for Planning Laurence O’Connor issued a statement, saying: “We are being punished by the government for defending the district against unwanted development.”

They said the government has ‘launched a full-frontal attack’ on the views of local people.

They continued: “This council has stood up against housebuilders and their pursuit of profit in our district, rejecting planning applications that would turn green space into concrete and offer next to nothing for local people in real need of a home. And in response, Michael Gove has handed the keys to the district to any developer looking to make a fast buck.

“We’ve always been proud and grateful for the way so many parish and town councils engaged in the planning process and produced excellent neighbourhood plans. These plans were created by residents to ensure the best for their communities, but they are now being penalised for following the government’s own instructions.”

Councillor Stephen Gauntlett, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, said there were ‘a substantial number of Conservative Councillors’ on the District Council prior to May 2023, when most of the major planning applications that triggered the intervention were decided. He said they ‘participated fully in the Planning Committee’, adding that it was not just Lib Dems, Greens and Labour.