Greens In Lewes District Slam Possible Government Planning Changes

Wednesday, 28 October 2020 12:56

By John Warburton @Warblefly

"We are absolutely fighting these proposals on behalf of local people. If these plans go ahead they will attack local democracy and mean our residents have even less control over where development goes."

That's what one Green Party councillor in Lewes District has said, as the government's public consultation on its plans to shake-up the planning process comes to an end.

According to Downing Street, current planning regulations are a "relic from the middle of the 20th century", with ministers lately comparing them to "make-do and mend".

But its sweeping proposals to reform the situation have been met with dismay from most local councils across Sussex.

Lewes's Green Party, a member of the district's ruling co-operative alliance, is the latest to speak out.

Cllr. Emily O'Brien said:

“We would love to see improvements to our planning system but these proposals are a missed opportunity.

"There is hardly any mention of nature, of climate change, and the importance of green space and open country — everything that local people tell us really matter. Instead there are binding housing targets that would lead to a free ride for developers.”

"Our members and others have worked really hard on a full and thorough consultation response and we only hope that Government is listening and is ready for a rethink."

For its part, the Government calls its proposals:

"...A significantly simpler, faster and more predictable system.

"They aim to facilitate a more diverse and competitive housing industry, in which smaller builders can thrive alongside the big players, where all pay a fair share of the costs of infrastructure and the affordable housing existing communities require and where permissions are more swiftly turned into homes."

Among other reforms, ministers want to:

"increase the supply of land available for new homes where it is needed to address affordability pressures, support economic growth and the renewal of our towns and cities, and foster a more competitive housing market;

"help businesses to expand with readier access to the commercial space they need in the places they want and supporting a more physically flexible labour market."

But Lewes's Greens say that these proposals would include the triggering of automatic planning permissions without further community consultation.

The closing date for the consultation on the Government's planning white paper is Thursday 29th October.