Drivers not addressed

I am somewhat bemused by the Rt Hon Andrew Griffith’s letter in which he makes some very pertinent points regarding overdevelopment in Arun, but fails to address the real drivers of inappropriate development in the Arun District.

The first driver is his own Conservative Government and the totally unrealistic housing targets imposed upon Arun District Council doubling the number they have historically been able to produce and then penalising the council with the presumption in favour of development seized upon by developers on greenfield sites in the district.

The second driver in Arun and, in particular the Barnham area he cites, is Arun Conservatives’

Local Plan whose largest strategic allocation is located in the Barnham area further exacerbating the overwhelming of road drainage and foul water infrastructure flooding homes across the district.

Similar concerns prompted us to write to Michael Gove on the first of August this year seeking exemption status given the constraints of the South Downs’ National Park to the north and the sea to the south followed by a letter dated the 8th October requesting a response and, in the light of widespread flooding, seeking a moratorium on large scale development in the district until the flooding and sewage invading residents‘ homes could be resolved. We still await a response from either letter, even though local MP Nick Gibb has been copied in!

Furthermore in

Arun we have over 6,000 unimplemented planning permissions further reducing our housing output through no fault of ours and this issue needs regulating by government.

Cllr Martin Lury

Chair of Planning Policy Arun District Council