LETTER: Concerned about local plan

Councillor Bower, the cabinet member for planning and infrastructure at Arun District Council, has argued against the housing numbers for this district at every stage of the Local Plan since the SE Plan was first published in 2009 (which proposed what now seems a relatively modest housing target of 565 houses per annum).

Not surprisingly, the housing number has continued to climb – with an Overall Assessed Need (OAN) now of 919 houses per annum – 62 per cent higher than if we had pressed on with the Local Plan in 2009 – and this figure will almost certainly increase when obligations under the duty to co-operate are factored in.

I am concerned the local plan has been unnecessarily delayed. Arun’s failure to maintain a Five Year Housing Land Supply has also led to catastrophic predatory development across the district.

Tony Dixon

Barons Close

Westergate