Sir,

Manifestos need close scrutiny

The General Election on December 12 coincides with Horsham District Council finalising its soon-to-be-released-for-consultation District Plan, 2021 to 2036, in which extensive areas of countryside are to be allocated to accommodate a hugely inflated house-building target.

Compulsory use of the Government’s hocus pocus formula-based method to determine the District’s base-line housing target, which together with the Government-imposed ‘duty to cooperate’ with other councils seeking to offload their ‘un-met’ housing needs on to our District, is likely to result in an annual target in excess of 1,400 per year.

This undemocratic’ ‘plan-making’ process is the product of a planning regime that does not take in to account the Climate Emergency and has consistently failed to meet the increasingly urgent need for truly affordable-rentable housing, and essential infrastructure and services, deliberately sacrificing environmental sustainability, protection and enhancement in the pursuit of excessive and unrealistic house-building targets, and the commercial interests of developers.

Horsham District desperately needs representatives in Parliament who will listen to and stand-up for its communities on planning and environmental matters and who will strive for a planning system and policies that will secure a truly sustainable future for people and the environment. Candidates and their manifestos need close scrutiny.

Yours faithfully,

Dr R F Smith
Trustee CPRE Sussex