Roger Smith from CPRE Sussex's Horsham District at Futureproofing 2013

2. “It is unconstrained in planning
terms, in the sense that it is
not green belt, not an area of
outstanding natural beauty,
nor a national park”
(a Managing Director - Berkeley Homes, WSCT 12 Jan 12)

3. Developers targeting countryside
• Government’s pro-development stance.
• Planning Inspectorate’s interpretation and
application of the NPPF.
• Lack of a 5-yr housing land supply – measured
against the SE Plan.
• New local plan to be in place in 2014 –
Deadline set by Government expires:
• 27 March 2013.
• Fear that developers will exploit the interim.

4. THE SOUTH EAST PLAN

5. THE SOUTH EAST PLAN
• Imposed target of 13,000 new houses.
• Target determined during boom years before the
recession.
• In expectation that continued growth would
generate need for thousands of new houses to
accommodate an expanding work force.
INSTEAD WE HAVE THE RECESSION.

6. Target IMPOSED by South East
Plan UNACHIEVABLE
Communities are being PUNISHED by the
PLANNING INSPECTORATE - by allowing
planning applications on Appeal – because
the target being in excess of actual
demand has NOT BEEN MET – because it
is UNACHIEVABLE – for reasons that are
BEYOND the CONTROL of the Council.

7. Regrettably, Government Ministers seem
not to understand that neither they nor
councils can compel developers to build
more houses than can be sold at a profit.

8. Consequences for Horsham District
• Horsham District Council’s ability to decide planning
applications is being undermined and in effect being
is being removed by the Planning Inspectorate.
• Inappropriate development has and is being imposed
on communities, as for example at Billingshurst,
Henfield and Storrington.
This is unjust

9. SOUTH EAST PLAN IS TO BE
REVOKED 25 MARCH 2013
(Strategic Environmental Assessment of the
Revocation of the South East Regional Strategy - Post
Adoption Statement. DCLG Feb 13)

10. Revocation of the South East Plan
will enable “councils to make the
development choices that work
for them, choices that are right
for their communities and
respond to the needs of the local
area rather than arbitrary top-
down targets. This presents a far
better deal for local people””
(The Rt. Hon. Eric Pickles, Secretary of State
for Councils and Local Government, 14 Feb 13)

11. Revocation of South East Plan:
“the top down approach to housing
numbers will remain” – after the
South East Plan has been revoked.
(a Horsham District Cllr – WSCT 7 Mar 13)

12. HDC’s view seems to be that:
• The house-building target imposed by the SE
Plan on the District will remain valid post
revocation and the requirement to meet the
target will continue to be enforced by the
Planning Inspectorate.
• In setting its own target for the District it must
take into account the target set by the SE Plan
(- requiring an annual build rate of 670
houses per year).

13. HOWEVER

14. “I would like to assure you that the abolition of the
regional strategies also means the abolition of
housing targets. The highly flawed regional
strategies highlighted that when you take planning
away from local people, it not only breeds distrust
in the planning system, but leads to a severe lack of
protection of important resources like the
countryside. The Government’s planning reforms,
set primarily through the NPPF in 2012, gave the
responsibility of setting housing targets to local
authorities as part of the core strategy of their local
plans.”
(The Rt. Hon. Francis Maude MP, 19 Mar 13)

16. How we operate.
Followed by CONCLUSION.

17. “WUNT BE DRUV!”