Parish council supports our campaign on housing figures
Government rules ‘top trump’ sustainable developments
A parish council has joined our Sussexwide campaign urging those in power to ‘act on unsustainable housing targets’ and ‘protect our beautiful green spaces’.
The campaign calls for stronger protection for our greenfield sites and greater powers for councils to determine their own housing needs and annual targets.
The parish council said if Angmering ‘must have more building’, it ‘deserves high-quality homes’ that are affordable for families, and investment in infrastructure to make developments ‘truly sustainable’.
Chairman Nikki HamiltonStreet said the council would continue to hold developers to account and ‘look towards sustainable developments’, despite a ‘sense of rising despair’.
She added: “Since the 1930s, the village has had pockets of new homes built – east and west of Arundel Road, the Dell, south of the A259 and Bramley Green, welcoming many new residents.
“Arun District Council’s Local Plan adopted in 2018 saw Angmering receive a number of strategic sites, they alone have already increased the village by 25 per cent.
“Two thirds of the parish lies within the South Downs National Park which therefore affords protection against inappropriate development.
“But what protection is there for anything south of the A27?The National Planning Policy Framework, the Arun Local Plan, and the Angmering Neighbourhood Plan should all hold weight in planning decisions.
“However, the government’s targets for planning authorities to have a five-year land supply, appears to top trump sustainable developments, which would enhance communities, rather than destroying them. That is where our problem in Angmering lies.”
The parish council called for better infrastructure to be in place before building works begin. It also wants ‘clear linked strategies’ that recognise the impact developments will have on the local road networks and ‘in the wider areas’.
The council has also called for better community facilities, including small shops.
It added: “Fundamentally as a country we need to start importing less and producing more ourselves. Angmering experiences flooding, there is evidence to demonstrate the importance of farmings role in preventing flooding. We can’t do any of this if our farmland becomes housing.”