This week I intervened in the Commons Chamber on planning for homes. It is not nimbyism to fight to protect the Goring Gap. I resisted the suggestion that developers could grab any field they wanted.
The Labour suggestion was, in all intents and purposes, that Councils be forced to meet their quota of housing and be beholden to the often unsympathetic decisions of inspectors far removed from our area and with little knowledge of what’s at stake for local residents.
Many will share in my firm belief that we must put Arun District Council and the Borough Council, and our local councils across the country, in charge of planning matters, not leaving development decisions to the often unsympathetic decisions of inspectors far removed from our area and with little knowledge of what’s at stake for local residents.
We recognise that arbitrary targets must not be enforced.
Even if Worthing Borough Council were to build on every patch of grass between Brooklands and Goring, they would still not meet the Government's quota. Common sense solutions must prevail.
