Councils should stand up to government policy

Politicians often dismiss legitimate concerns as NIMBYism and wish to ride roughshod over local people.
Your letters to the newspaper SUS-181214-104016001Your letters to the newspaper SUS-181214-104016001
Your letters to the newspaper SUS-181214-104016001

Further central government interference of local decision making will only reinforce the sense of disconnect between politicians and rural communities.

This increases the sense of betrayal felt by the communities. Unfortunately this is already beginning to happen.

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The Minister for Housing, implementing the new NPPF is quoted as saying: “The message is clear and direct; we want the right number of homes built in the right places. Central to this is the voice of local communities. They should be able to determine not only the right number of homes for their area, but how they fit it.” This statement is patently at odds with reality – no one is listening.

This is a panic driven policy. The Government has not explained where they get the magic figure of 300,000 houses needed now nor explained the numbers allocated in each area of the country. This is an ill thought through policy that is nothing but a ‘developer’s charter’. What then is the point of this whole exercise in allotting valuable agriculturally rich green field sites for mass development which is not needed and not wanted when there is no infrastructure in place and the A27 Northern route has not been resolved?

It is time the CDC and the WSCC stood up for their constituents and applied pressure on our local MP Gillian Keegan, to challenge English Highways, the Ministry of Housing, and the Ministry of Transport on their directives before they completely and unnecessarily ruin this part of the country.

Libby Alexander, Fishbourne Road West, Fishbourne