During Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, I raised the anguish of residents in Ferring, East Preston, Kingston-Gorse and neighbouring communities where developers are trying to build over every vineyard, horticultural nursery and piece of high-quality agricultural land.
In locations where developers already have sufficient permissions to meet the council's housing targets for the next five years, the Prime Minister's response was unequivocal: we must protect agricultural land; the right homes must be in the right places. Food security is vital. We need our farmers to produce more Great British food.
Later that day, Labour, Lib-Dem and Independent councillors in Arun ignored the views of hundreds of local residents and all parish councils and voted to build on the strategic Kingston Gap between the communities of East Preston, Angmering and Ferring.
All members of the Committee appeared to agree with the Prime Minister's belief that this development should not go ahead. That was until the Planning Officer warned that the costs of an appeal by the developer, if successful, may be more than the council could afford.
Conservative Councillors stood firm and voted against the unwanted development. To the Labour and Lib-Dem councillors, money appeared to matter more than the legitimate concerns of local communities and they voted to give council officers the right to approve the development.
On Thursday, I asked the Leader of the House whether Parliament could be given the time to debate the impact of intimidation by developers. I also urged Arun District Council to 'call in' the proposal and, should it fail to do so, I requested that the Secretary of State does so in their place.
