More than 2,000 homes could be built in Arun district every year

Sweeping changes to the planning system would leave West Sussex having to build an extra 2,234 homes each year with the Arun district being one of the areas to take the brunt of new development.
Boris Johnson at a building site last week promoting the government's new planning reforms (Photo by Phil Noble - WPA Pool/Getty Images)Boris Johnson at a building site last week promoting the government's new planning reforms (Photo by Phil Noble - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Boris Johnson at a building site last week promoting the government's new planning reforms (Photo by Phil Noble - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Councils across the county are currently trawling through the details of the government’s ‘planning for the future’ White Paper as well as preparing their responses for a second consultation on changes to planning policy and regulations.

Those changes include altering the way housing figures are calculated – replacing the current local housing need with local housing requirements, essentially adding 300,000 homes per year to the nationwide figures.

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Figures from planning and development consultancy Lichfields show how the changes would affect West Sussex councils.

One of the biggest changes would fall on Arun District Council, whose housing requirement would rise from 1,368 homes to 2,063 per year.

The figures show that, over the past three years, the council has delivered an average of 647 homes per year.

Elsewhere in the county, Adur District Council’s figures would rise from 248 per year to 326; Chichester District Council’s from 753 to 1,120; Crawley Borough Council’s from 476 to 598; Horsham District Council’s from 920 to 1,715; and Mid Sussex District Council’s from 1,114 to 1,305.

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Only Worthing Borough Council’s figures would fall – from 885 per year to 871.

The White Paper has been described as ‘vague, damaging and ineffectual’ by The Campaign to Protect Rural England – Sussex.

The charity warned the proposals ‘could hand thousands of acres of rural Sussex over to developers who will be able to build without going through the planning process’.

Meanwhile writing this week, the Rt Revd Dr Martin Warner, Bishop of Chichester, argued that the drive to build new houses is something to be welcomed, but not at any price.

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He said: “We need good new neighbourhoods, not just lots of new houses.”

He felt these neighbourhoods not only had to contribute to a reduction in our carbon footprint, but also develop their own character of diversity and have architecture that makes a statement about dignity and human achievement.

The White Paper divides land into three categories – growth, renewal and protected.

In growth areas, outline permission would be automatically given for developments specified in a council’s local plan; renewal areas would be seen as suitable for some development; and protected areas would see development restricted.

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Councils would also be able to set aside land in ‘growth’ areas for self-built and custom-built homes.

The proposed changes brought a mixed reaction from West Sussex councillors.

The proposed changes will provoke plenty of debate in the corridors of Westminster over the next few months.

Andrew Griffith, MP for Arundel and South Downs which includes parts of Horsham, Chichester, Mid Sussex and Arun districts, said: “There are some welcome initiatives such as the focus on building upon brownfield land, a locally set design code for new dwellings, better energy efficient standards and requirement to enhance bio-diversity.

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“Post Covid, I want to see us building ‘up not out’ – attractive homes in existing towns and cities and converting the vast amount of now unused offices to dwellings in those areas where the infrastructure already exists - not developments on the unspoilt green fields of West Sussex such as those proposed at Mayfields, Adversane and West Grinstead that would only be accessible by motor car.”

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