Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Friday, September 17, 2021

Gatwick expansion?

I suspect that many of you will be aware of Gatwick's expansion plans - there is a current consultation.  It will come as no surprise that I do not view these plans favourably, unlike the UK government, it seems.  If you share my views then I suggest that a quick visit to CAGNE will enlighten you.

What struck me today was a quote in The Independent from Rachel Maclean, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport: 'The minister, who is in charge of government policy on the future of transport and decarbonisation, said flying was one of the things that "make life worth living" and that the government would not place restrictions on it.'  All I can say is try telling that to anyone who lives under a flight path or next to an access road.  I suspect that a slight rearrangement of those words with the addition of 'hell' and 'not' might be in their answer.  

Then there's the increasing carbon footprint from aviation...

Sunday, September 12, 2021

A ray of light in the darkness?

We sincerely hope that there's a ray of truth in this Guardian piece (picking up on an earlier Times' article).

If 'no longer will councils be required to adopt a zoning system in which developers in certain designated areas would get automatic planning permission' and 'Nor will the government any longer set local councils individual housebuilding targets, with the precise numbers to be determined by an algorithm' come to pass, then we will be back to local authorities determining their local need - or will we?!?

And the effect on the, still to reach Reg.19, Horsham District Local plan...?

Meanwhile, in the real world, as the Guardian comments 'Over the past five years, social housebuilding has averaged below 6,500 new homes a year in England, according to Shelter, while there are 1.1 million people on waiting lists.


Thursday, September 2, 2021

Council update

Funny old full council meeting yesterday (the first back at Parkside for over a year).

Of note was a bit of a skirmish between the chief exec. defending the 50% workforce return plan (ie a mixture of office and working from home, to be reviewed in March next year) and some of the older Tory traditionalists.  Mike was happy to support our CEO on this one, given the potential carbon savings, not to mention all the other downsides of commuting!

Then there was a motion to 'support efforts to resettle those refugees' (referring to the current Afghan disaster of 'our' making), which somewhat myopically overlooked the increasingly poor treatment of refugees in general, as pointed out by Cllr Fletcher (Lib Dem).  The Borders and Nationality bill currently making it's way through parliament will not improve matters either, but will criminalise genuine refugees (as defined in the Refugee Convention which the UK help set up in 1951 - more enlightened times?) unless they arrive by a 'direct route'.

Finally, three member's questions on notice, all related to planning matters.  Firstly, Mike had it confirmed that members would have no potential input into a Climate Change Supplementary Planning Document until after the local plan was made (2023 if all goes well).  Then Cllr Milne (Lib Dem) encouraged Strategic Planning to get on with updating their 5 year land supply calculations (currently estimated by planning inspectors to be around 4.3 years - hence encouraging speculative development).  The latest official housing completion figures are eagerly awaited from West Sussex County Council.  And lastly, Bob highlighted the need to avoid building new housing that will require retrofitting to met net zero carbon emissions, although the reply from the cabinet member for planning and development was 'carefully phrased' to avoid any explicit commitment!

 

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, w...