ROTHER District Council has agreed to move ahead with the final round of public consultation on a new local plan.
On Monday (September 21), it began the regulation 19 consultation process, giving residents a final opportunity to comment on its long term planning and development strategy.
After the six-week consultation, councillors will decide if to submit the document to the government for inspection.
During the meeting, cabinet member for planning Teresa Killeen (Lib Dem) said the adoption of a new local plan would help protect the council against speculative development.
She said: “If the local plan isn’t progressed this evening, as we know, the council will be exposed to a number of risks.
“We will be vulnerable to piecemeal and speculative development, especially in relation to housing sites. We would have significantly less control over where development goes, so would be unable to reflect our communities’ aspirations and priorities.”
The proposal saw opposition from the council’s Conservative group.
Conservative councillor John Barnes said there was “a lack of safeguarding” of potential bypass road routes and 18 site allocations, which had been opposed by the High Weald AONB Landscape Unit, were included.
He said: “It is not simply a matter of contentious sites from ward members’ point of view, but professional advice from the High Weald Unit. I would point out too, that once the allocations are made, they are the equivalent of outline planning permission.”
Cllr Richard Thomas (Lib Dem) argued the unit’s objections were general rather than site-specific.
He said: “They object to the existence of the low cost exemption, they object to the incompatibility between that area to the housing targets and they object to the overstretched infrastructure. All of those points would be a reason why every site should be removed from this local plan.”
Cllr Brian Drayson (ROIC), chairman of the council’s planning committee, said councillors needed to ‘recognise the wider planning context’ of the plan and its allocations.
He said: “The government has increased the housing requirement placed upon us and made clear its expectation that local authorities plan positively to meet those needs. That is why some sites previously considered unsuitable are being looked at again.
“It does not necessarily mean that those sites have suddenly become more sustainable. It means the national planning context has changed and we have to respond accordingly.”
Cllr Drayson said the housing numbers proposed in the local plan are below government-set housing targets (noted in meeting papers to come to 510 new homes per year against an expected 895 new homes per year).
He argued this reduced figure needed to be ‘defendable’ at examination.
Conservative group leader Carl Maynard disputed this argument.
He said: “I think there is a bigger issue. It is not about anybody not wanting to deliver a local plan. We want a local plan. We want to welcome the good parts of what is in front of us.
“But those sites that are proposed are hugely sensitive. I think we can’t be frightened by government. We’ve got to be very clear that we are representing the views and opinions of local residents, but I make no apology for saying those are the views and opinions we share.”
