'D'-day for 'devolution' - 10 January 2025

This is the date for upper tier authorities (ie unitaries and county councils) to express an interest in joining the government's priority list to become a Strategic Combined Authority.  The outlines are set out in the 16 Dec 2024 white paper on English Devolution.  It's been sold as 'Taking Back Control' (from Whitehall) but I think we've heard that one before, and informed opinion regards it as 'decentralisation', not 'devolution'.

For the people of Sussex this may result in a Mayoral Strategic Combined Authority on top of 3 unitary councils - East Sussex, Brighton & Hove + extra bits, and West Sussex, with no more district councils.  Whilst some combination of the above just might be an improvement, especially if it led to a significant increase in funding for the area (but I'm not holding my breath), if accepted for the priority list, it's likely that this year's West Sussex County Council elections will be cancelled!

This would result in the details of any new local government organisations being negotiated by the existing county councillors.  If, like me, you are not happy with this prospect, then please write by 9th January to Jim McMahon, the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, using this handy template (from Horsham Green Party) and demand local accountability! 

Horsham District's Reg.19 Local Plan - On The Rocks or Awaiting New Orders?

After just 3 days of hearings, which started on the 10 December 2024, the Planning Inspector suspended the hearings, which were due to continue until late January 2025 because he had 'significant concerns about the soundness and legal compliance of the Plan in respect of a number of areas'.  To say that this was unexpected is an understatement, as the Inspector had had plenty of time to raise any worries in a pre-examination, but none was requested.  

There is a response to the above decision from HDC, which supposes that the Inspector's main concerns were:

Meeting housing needs and the Sustainability Appraisal (“SA”);

Whether the Council has discharged its Duty to Cooperate;

The purported 6 month time limit in relation to delay in the examination of local plans.

and suggested a way forward with regards to the first two points.  However nothing has been forthcoming from the Inspector, and the Christmas and New Year break has intervened.

Given the level of opposition to the Reg.19 Local Plan in certain quarters, why does this matter?  The short answer is found in the question 'should the district have a degree of control over what, where and how new development takes place, and receive contributions to build commensurate infrastructure?'  My view is most definitely 'yes', especially considering the alternative 'Planning by Appeal' under the latest National Planning Policy Framework, which would require Horsham District to allow the building of between 1500 and 1800 new dwellings each year!  (The Reg.19 HDLP plans for an average of 777 new dwellings each year.)  

Given the District's current lack of a 5-year housing land supply, we are already seeing such speculative planning applications coming forward, not to mention winning at appeal , and further delays to the plan will only aggravate this. 

There is also the looming question of central government's plans for so called 'devolution'; but that's for another blog post!  In the meantime, this councillor hopes that Inspector Luke Fleming had a Merry Christmas, and wishes him a Happy New Year!

Development proposals at Glebe Farm, Steyning 

It seems from recent public meetings that our MP (Andrew Griffith) is being somewhat economical with the truth regarding Horsham's Local Plan Reg.19 submission.

The following is the position of the local Green group district councillors.

At a meeting at the Steyning Centre on 11th April 2024, Andrew Griffith MP suggested that residents ask their District Councillors how they voted on the Local Plan (Dec 23):

• Mr Griffith knows that voting in council meetings is a matter of public record.

• The Local Plan includes Glebe Farm (DC/21/2233 Land North of Glebe Farm and Kings Barn Lane).

• The individual councillor details are easily gleaned from the Horsham District Council (HDC) website or the YouTube video recording of the meeting. 

• At the meeting, Mr Griffith also suggested that it was unfortunate that the Glebe Farm site had been included in the HDC Local Plan and that it was ‘...rejected in the previous plan...’.  This is not the case: In fact, the proposed development at Glebe Farm (‘at least 240 homes’) was included in the previous iteration of the Local Plan (July 21 Regulation 19 consultation) which was agreed and promoted by the Conservative Cabinet (Public Pack) Agenda Document for Cabinet, 15/07/2021 17:30 (moderngov.co.uk)

It is disingenuous of Mr Griffith to criticise HDC planning for the current Local Plan, which is necessary to meet housing target requirements mandated by central Conservative government law.  

As required by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the Standard Methodology calculation for Horsham District demands 911 dwellings/annum across the Horsham District(this is equivalent to 15,487 homes in the 17-year period 2023-2040) yet HDC’s evidence base work has identified a total of 13,212 homes and associated infrastructure which are considered to be deliverable in the Local Plan (an average of 777 homes/year to be delivered in a stepped-wise way) – that’s 2,275 fewer dwellings in all.

Why do we need a local plan anyway?

If the Local Plan does not try to meet central government’s demands, it will be rejected by the Planning Inspectorate – leading to a free-for-all for developers. You may have noticed, with dismay, the numbers of new builds around Fontwell and Barnham. It is important to know this is because Arun District Council still has no Local Plan in place – something Andrew Griffiths has highlighted as a failing of that Council at a meeting in Arun only a few weeks back - which is quite an irony considering he is now saying he’s against Horsham’s Local Plan.  Minutes from Barnham & Eastergate Parish Council meeting 12 March 2024 say: “10.4 Andrew Griffith MP Meeting – The Chair [...] in particular was pleased to hear him say he would tell Arun to sort out their Local Plan.”  https://barnhamandeastergate-pc.gov.uk/media/15179/draft-bepc-minutes-12-03-24.pdf

How did the Greens vote? And would voting against the local plan have made a difference?

Six Greens voted for the draft Local Plan on 11 th December 2023, on the basis that it was better than the current ’planning free-for all’, and two abstained, but only after Greens having gained several improvements in areas such as sustainability, active travel and affordability.

Green decided to work with the Lib Dems in a constructive way, for the best outcome for the residents throughout the District.

The Lib Dems are now the majority party at HDC (28 in Dec, now 27) so they did not require additional votes from the minority/opposition groups to get the Local Plan approved (Cons then 11, now 12, Greens then 8 now 9).

The current Local Plan is very similar to the previous version devised by the Conservatives, with a few significant removals in the shape of large sites at Adversane and Buck Barn.

Any significant changes to the Local Plan might have cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and taken many years – during which time 1000s more houses could have been built speculatively - to lower standards and without any control over location from the Council - which would also have to relinquish influence on the provision of supporting infrastructure – just like in Arun District.

When voting, councillors were doing so for the District, not individual wards. This does not mean that when voting Greens were happy with all elements.

Horsham Planning Committees will be able to scrutinise the details of developments on a one-by-one basis, to ensure that they align with the Climate Action and Supplementary Design Strategies to improve the quality of developments.

Local councillors may be contacted via email at:

Cllr Mike Croker (Bramber, Upper Beeding & Woodmancote: Mike.Croker@Horsham.gov.uk

Cllr Victoria Finnegan (Steyning & Ashurst): Victoria.Finnegan@Horsham.gov.uk

Cllr Nick Marks (Steyning & Ashurst): Nicholas.Marks@Horsham.gov.uk 

And then there were nine!

Pleased to say that there are now nine Green Party councillors on Horsham District Council following the byelection victory of Gill Perry, who is an active Parish councillor in Henfield.  (The byelection was brought about by the untimely death of the previous independent incumbent, Malcolm Eastwood.)

I look forward to Gill's green contributions to the District over the next 3 years, and hopefully more!

The deed is done!

Finally, after 5 years work spanning all the time I've been a district councillor, on 11 December HDC finally agreed a Regulation 19 Local Plan for consultation and subsequent submission to the Planning Inspectorate.  As I said in the meeting (around 5hrs 20min), no plan is perfect, but should be the best in current circumstances.

It is now up to the Planning Inspectorate to weight up the plan and all its supporting documents, along with the comments from the public consultation (which closes on 1 March 2024): with a bit of luck and a fair wind we might have a made plan by mid-2025.  What could possibly go wrong?

No 20 mph limit for Steyning?

This FB post by our county councillor is potentially (ie until the next County elections in 2025) the end of community ambitions for a 20 mph speed limit across the residential and commercial areas of Steyning and the Maudlin area of Bramber.  (The historic area of Bramber and the vast majority of Upper Beeding already has a 20 mph speed limit.)

It might be worth examining the last paragraph of that FB post, viz: 'My view was that residents' had to have their say on the matter, and I hope those who did not get what were hoping for with this proposal, will acknowledge that a democratic process has been followed...'  It has been estimated, in the absence of any hard data, that less than 200 residents responded to Cllr Linehan's survey (which was promoted by the Conservative Party, and asked for your name, address and likely voting intensions).  The 2021 residents survey, promoted by a non-political community working party and supported by both Steyning and Bramber parish councils, raised 1511 responses (with checks carried out to confirm results were not being skewed by individuals making multiple responses) and resulted in a just under 2:1 majority for an area wide scheme.

This begs the question: which was more democratic?  

Global Temperature Anomaly

Don't wish to scare anyone, but if you take the data from the recent JA-55 temperature anomaly graph for 2023

and curve fit with an exponential, you get a pretty good fit and an exceedingly worrying prediction!