Opposition to Gatwick's second runway: latest
Written by Justin French-Brooks
10 February 2014
CPRE Sussex has again voiced its opposition to the proposed second runway at Gatwick in it response to the Airports Commission’s consultation. It has also strongly welcomed decisions by many Sussex councils to vote against a second runway at Gatwick and is urging others to “wake up” to the enormous threat is poses to the local countryside.
Beware the urbanisation of Mid Sussex, warns CPRE
Written by Michael Brown
The Campaign to Protect Rural England has warned Mid Sussex District Council that its latest District Plan proposals, ones that will shape our District between now and 2031, fail to protect the District from rapid urbanisation. MSDC has just closed a public consultation exercise on its proposed Plan. “Adoption of a new Plan must not provide our Council with an implicit mandate to abandon Mid Sussex’s essentially rural character” says CPRE Sussex trustee, Michael Brown.
Fracking: A small muted cheer for our politicians (and CPRE)?
Written by Michael BrownI think that we can afford to raise one cheer for our MPs for decisions they have taken on the future of the fracking industry. In their final Commons debate on the latest Infrastructure Bill the Government made concessions that give effect to significant points for which CPRE has campaigned both nationally and locally here in Sussex.
Letter: How developers are empowered by the NPPF
Written by Roger F SmithLetter published by the West Sussex County Times 29 January 2015
Article: Mid Sussex Times 15 January 2015 by Dr Roger Smith
Written by Roger F SmithSubject: house-building targets are decided – by Planning Inspectors, “unelected official, whose decisions cannot be challenged - and who cannot be held to account by councils and communities should his decisions prove to be flawed”.
“Since he does not explain how he has arrived at a number for the latter, one must conclude that the allocation is arbitrary.”
The Planning Inspector who examined the Horsham District Planning Framework (HDPF), has decided that a minimum of 750 new houses pa should be built in Horsham District in the period 2011-2031, amounting to at least 15,000 in total.
We have been taking stock of the results of our interventions in recent planning applications and planning appeals in Mid Sussex. Of the last 10 cases in which we have intervened, we await the result in 4 cases: the planning wheels can grind exceedingly slow!. Of those that have been determined, we are delighted to say that in 4 cases the planning application has either been withdrawn or turned down (in one case after the developer's appeal was rejected on grounds that we argued for) or granted subject to conditions that CPRE advocated. It would be inappropriate hubris to claim that CPRE is solely responsible for these good results, but we do hope that our arguments at least served to focus minds on the core arguments and to galvanise public opinion.
