LETTER: Cllr John Milne responds to Andrew Griffith MP

As printed in the Thursday, 26 October 2023, print edition of the West Sussex County Times

I’m concerned to see that in last week’s County Times, Andrew Griffith MP made a number of incorrect statements about planning law.

In his regular WSCT column Andrew said that the new Lib Dem administration at HDC (Horsham District Council) ‘refused to rule out reopening plans for thousands of houses on greenfield sites at West Grinstead and Adversane’.

As Andrew must know, all councils are legally obliged to consider every site in an objective, even-handed way. If we attempted to exclude any site in advance of the next stage in our Local Plan, called Regulation 19, the developer would almost certainly challenge us in court, and win if we had not followed the correct plan preparation process.

Extraordinarily, Andrew is recommending that Horsham District Council should take an illegal action that breaks the rules laid down by his own government. This is like Boris Johnson days again.

On the letters page of the same edition, Andrew further claimed that under the Lib Dems HDC is ‘ignoring policies in neighbourhood plans’ when it comes to planning applications.

He doesn’t make it clear which applications he’s referring to. But the way HDC officers apply the law today is exactly the same as it was under the outgoing Conservative administration.

Neighbourhood Plan policies are a statutory part of the planning process and as such, HDC officers will always take them into account. However, when it comes to housebuilding numbers, there is a separate government-imposed target which requires many more houses on top of our local Neighbourhood Plan allocations.

I realise that Andrew serves as Economic Secretary to the Treasury, not as Housing Minister. But our planning system will never get fixed while such confusions persist even at the heart of government.

John Milne
Deputy Leader HDC and Cabinet Member for Planning & Infrastructure