23rd July 2024
Update on District Plan
The District Plan was submitted to the Secretary of State on 8th July 2024 with a suggested hearing date of October 2024. All the documentation can be found via District Plan 2021-2039 Evidence Base - Mid Sussex District Council. As you can imagine, there is a lot of documentation here for us to look through but there seems to be two key documents:
1. dp2-schedule-of-proposed-modifications-july-2024.pdf (midsussex.gov.uk). This document covers all the modifications made since the last version of the District Plan was issued as part of the consultation process. Our initial assessment of this is that there are no significant changes (Ansty Farm site remains OUT of the plan) but that some of the minor changes are beneficial to our cause.
2. c2-representations-submitted-during-the-regulation-19-consultation.xlsx (live.com). This document covers all the representations made in relation to the last version of the District Plan. This document can be filtered to show the responses from Fairfax/Savills and we intend to do a thorough analysis of their submission.
This provides us with a focus for our efforts over the next few months and adds emphasis to the need for legal support and obtaining funds to support this.
Fundraising Events
Just by way of a quick reminder, the Stop Cuckstye Action Group is now working alongside the Cuckfield Society so that donations can be increased through gift aid where appropriate, and Cuckfield Society will ultimately become the guardian of our documentation to protect Cuckfield and Ansty against any future attempts to develop in this area.
The Cuckfield Society hosted a very successful event on 12th July at Cuckfield Park helping to move us closer to our fundraising target for legal support. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the Mayous for their generosity in allowing the use of their grounds, to Julian Smith for very generously providing the refreshments and to the Cuckfield Society for organising the event.
Our fundraising efforts continue, and we have just begun work on our next event. This will most likely take the form of an art competition which will be followed by an exhibition of all the entrants’ work. This will likely take place in October. The focus of the competition will be to capture the beauty of the area that Fairfax are so keen to despoil, showing via your artwork just how much this area means to us all. Further details will follow.
Implications of the incoming Labour government
Since our last newsletter we have had an election and a subsequent change of government. Understandably this has led to some concern amongst local residents as to where this leaves the District Plan and in particular the Ansty Farm site especially with regard to the re-introduction of housing targets and streamlining the planning process in order to build more houses.
It should be stressed that in terms of housing targets this means no change in Mid Sussex as the Council did not qualify for an exemption from these. The current and emerging District Plans remain compliant with current housing targets regardless of a change of government.
Also it should be emphasised that, although the Labour government wishes to speed up housebuilding, it wants to target its efforts toward brownfield, a new generation of new towns, and sustainable extensions to existing major urban areas utilising degraded, low amenity land within the metropolitan and provincial Green Belt known as "grey belt". The Ansty Farm site fits none of these categories and so should be unaffected by these proposals.
Further, our understanding of Labour’s plans regarding the housing needs of younger people is that social housing and supporting infrastructure are critical to any plan led process. We believe that the Ansty Farm site, far from addressing the needs of first-time buyers and young families, would impact on local services such as schools, doctors’ surgeries and the transport network whilst ‘affordable’ housing would remain out of reach for most young people.
It is worth noting and be somewhat reassured by the fact that the Countryside charity (CPRE) has given a cautious welcome to these plans which they would not have done if Labour's policy had been supportive of greenfield developments such as Cuck-Stye.
As far as we are concerned, and without being in any way complacent, NOTHING has changed.
The Ansty Farm site is UNSUSTAINABLE. It ALWAYS WAS, It ALWAYS WILL BE and our legal team has the expertise and evidence base to prove it!
Simon Stokes (Chair Stop Cuck-Stye Action Group).