Tory planning chaos puts Horsham District at risk
The long-awaited Local Plan for Horsham District has been pulled by the Conservatives yet again, just days before it was due to be presented at the Jan 18th meeting of Full Council.
Cllr Jonathan Chowen, Leader of the Council, has put his credibility on the line in an unsuccessful attempt to get his fractious party to agree. He failed, and has therefore promptly resigned his position. Cllr Chowen is the third Tory Leader to step down over the same issue in rapid succession.
Horsham Conservative rebels have jumped on Michael Gove’s recent Ministerial Statement, in which he suggested housing targets might be relaxed in rural areas like ours. However, it’s highly questionable if this will ever make its way into law. The Conservatives’ own specially commissioned legal advice was to ignore it.
It seems that the Horsham Conservatives are unable to carry out their essential duties as the majority group.
Why does it matter?
Passing a Local Plan into law is the key obligation of any local council. If you do nothing else as a majority party, this is the one thing you have to make sure of.
Horsham’s Local Plan is wrong-headed because Conservative policy both nationally and locally puts too much control in the hands of private developers. As Lib Dems we are opposed to many aspects, such as the failure to provide social housing despite a Council Motion which committed them to do so.
But whatever its flaws, it’s vital we have something. In the absence of an approved Local Plan there is a significant risk that central government will judge HDC unable to carry out its statutory duties. They will remove our power to decide which developments should go ahead in our District.
With May's local elections in Horsham District fast approaching, the latest delay means any future Tory majority would likely bring back the exact same Local Plan, with exactly the same sites prioritised as those put on hold today – including Southwater, West of Ifield and Billingshurst.
Cllr Martin Boffey, Trafalgar (Leader of Lib Dem group, HDC) commented:
“It’s incredible that the Tories have managed to go 4 years without settling the most important issue on HDC’s agenda – a new Local Plan. They have brought planning chaos to Horsham District. Already we’re seeing unwanted, unsuitable developments being pushed through because the Tories have lost control of planning. We’re not solving the housing crisis, and we’re not protecting our precious green spaces either.
Pushing the Local Plan decision to the other side of the election is a gross dereliction of duty. Last time round they hid from us their secret plan to develop Rookwood. Who knows what they’ll be keeping under cover this time.”