Reader's letter: Eastbourne needs realistic housing targets

The recently issued results of the 2021 census prove my description of current housing targets for Eastbourne as “absurd” (Eastbourne Herald May, 2020).

Over 10 years, between censuses, the population of Eastbourne only increased by 2.3 per cent, from 99,412 to 101,700.

This is a fraction of the projected increase (7.7 per cent over 10 years) used to create current housing targets (an 11 per cent increase over 10 years).

For the past several years, without an agreed Local Plan,

planning applications have been made under the completely false premise that Eastbourne does not have a five year land supply. Planning officers (understandably) and the Planning Inspectorate have mistakenly treated this as a material consideration to favour developments. The whole planning scenario would be transformed if realistic targets were in place.

Perversely, the 2014-based population projections currently in use carry the following caveat from the ONS: they “do not take account of the ability of an area to accommodate any extra accommodation”.

So, in the case of Eastbourne the physical constraints of the sea, South Downs National Park, the Pevensey floodplain, and the boundary with Wealden are not taken into consideration in the population projections.

Any rational discussion of the Local Plan would surely reflect the absurdity of the current housing target.

It is long overdue to present such a plan which should focus on the wider aspirations for the Borough and, with rather less emphasis, include realistic housing targets.