December 10th, 2024.



Lewes District Green Party Councillors have spoken out at their despair that ‘a broken planning system will get worse’ following announcements by the Labour government this week.

The announcement came  in the same week that Harbour Heights, an unpopular development on a Greenfield site just outside Newhaven, which had been allocated for development in 2016, finally got planning permission. It is the latest in a string of unpopular green field developments in areas including Ringmer, and the local Green party says it shows why planning committees need to have more power not less.

Lewes District Councillor and planning campaigner Emily O’Brien explained: “Along with other Local Greens, I have been clear in opposing Harbour Heights Development. It is completely the wrong place to build. However, what people aren’t telling you is that development here was already stitched up because this site was previously earmarked for development and rubber stamped by the earlier Conservative Council in 2016. Anyone who tells you development at Harbour Heights could be stopped once it was in that local plan isn’t being honest. By then it was too late.

“What they also aren’t telling you is that even the Conservatives didn't choose to build at Harbour Heights. Local council officers said clearly that the site is not suitable for development, but the government planning inspector forced them to add it to the local plan. This was just plain wrong.

“Harbour Heights is already a tragedy, but this week things got worse. We’d hoped the new Labour government would try to fix the planning mess, but this week has showed they are even worse than the last lot, and would like to see many more Harbour Heights. We must oppose these changes and stop a tragedy becoming a disaster.”

Lewes District Green Councillor Sue Morris added, “Our planning system is already broken, and I was horrified by this week’s announcement which means building even more new housing in places like this, ignoring what people and councils think. Even worse, on Sunday, the Government then announced they want to abolish planning committees altogether if a site is already in a local plan, meaning officials will get to rubber stamp huge developments in places like Newhaven, Ringmer, Wivelsfield and Newick – and we’ll lose even the limited say your local councillors have currently.

“If you want to help stop it, please write to your MP or sign the Lewes District Green Party petition HERE to tell them to stop pushing these harmful building targets and give more power to local planning committees, not less. Developers are happy about these rules because they can make a lot of money, but it’s just not fair to our local communities.”

lewes.greenparty.org.uk


Pictured: Green Party District Councillors at the Harbour Heights site in Newhaven.