Development allocations for the NE plan area have been set a High level of growth, an increase over a lower level advised by CDC in 2018. Whether or not the new increases to the NE plan area are delivered - they are insignificant at the district and county level - however they are massive at village level. The accumulative impact will make village dwelling numbers increase 30% to 70% over a 10 year period (from when these villages started Neighbourhood Plans) which risk irreversible change to their character. The area includes quintessential examples of the Sussex village which risk being lost in a development sprawl all the way beyond Crawley with few and dwindling gaps.

The policy does expect village development sites to be allocated through Neighbourhood Plans (NP) process, however the targets have been set by unsound assumptions and limited analysis of the HEELA process.

Proposed change:
The H3 policy should allow the NE villages to set their own levels of development through the NP process, from a target range set from the Lower growth values and the value in the March 2023 proposal. For example, Wisborough Green would have range 40 - 75 allocation, not the fixed and arbitrary 75.

With this change, the NE villages can use the more rigorous NP process of site evaluation, and can use the better and more local knowledge of resources to 'fine tune' the practical growth that each NP area can plan for.

The increased allocations for NE area are a direct reaction to the infrastructure issues surrounding A27 in the south. CDC are obliged to look elsewhere with 'no stone unturned', yet there is no comparable evaluation of infrastructure resources in the NE. The presumption is simply 'they can cope with more'.

The targets have been set by unsound assumptions.

The duty of co-operation with neighbouring authorities is only at macro level, and does not consider the relatively large impact to the NE area of the massive Billingshurst and Dunsfold developments - all within 3 miles of the NE villages.