Political opinion with Alison Bennett MP: Housing growth must be fair for Mid Sussex

Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to SussexWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you. In her weekly column, Alison Bennett, MP for Mid Sussex, shares her thoughts on the recent consultation regarding the Mid Sussex District Plan. Few issues matter more to local people than the future of the places they call home. Decisions about housing affect our countryside, our infrastructure, our schools and our sense of community for generations. It is therefore no surprise that the Government's intervention in the Mid Sussex District Plan, and the subsequent consultation on the Main Modifications, has generated such strong feeling across the district. At the heart of this debate is a simple question of fairness. It is not right that towns and villages across Mid Sussex are being forced to compete with one another over where thousands of additional homes should be built. Yet that is the situation many residents now find themselves facing. Mid Sussex District Council spent years preparing its District Plan. Sites were carefully assessed, residents were consulted, infrastructure requirements were considered, and a balanced approach to growth was developed. The resulting plan reflected extensive local engagement and evidence, and secured support from councillors across the political spectrum. However, late in the examination process, the Planning Inspectorate informed the Council that it would need to accommodate significantly more housing than originally planned. This left the Council with an impossible choice: identify additional sites at short notice, including revisiting locations that had not been selected through the original assessment process, or risk having the District Plan rejected altogether. Without a plan in place, developers would have far greater freedom to pursue development in locations beyond local control. As a result, the Council has been required to find space for these additional homes. The impact is particularly significant in the southern part of the district, where more than half of the extra housing proposed through the Main Modifications is concentrated. It is entirely understandable that many residents feel their villages or towns are being asked to shoulder a disproportionate burden. The answer is not to pit one community against another. Rather than debating which site is least harmful, we should be asking whether the scale of additional housing being imposed is genuinely sustainable. Mid Sussex has a strong record of delivering new homes, but growth must be matched by proper infrastructure, sound evidence and meaningful local involvement. Communities should not be expected to accept major additional development without the careful planning that underpinned the District Plan from the outset.