Lewes party group leaders agree: stop Eton building a 3,000-house new town at East Chiltington
All five party group leaders on Lewes District Council have voiced their strong opposition to plans by Eton College to build a 3,000-house new town at East Chiltington, right on the edge of the South Downs National Park.
With the council due to be publishing the Issues and Options consultation phase of its new Local Plan on Friday (July 9), all the leaders have deemed the 500-acre site in open countryside inappropriate for a new town.
Lewes District Council is currently a hung Council, with no one political party having overall control. Control of the Cabinet is with Councillor James MacCleary as Leader, as part of a cooperative alliance, consisting of the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats, Labour groups and a member from the Independent group.
Don’t Urbanise the Downs, which was formed in March to fight the scheme and now has nearly 2,000 members from right across Sussex, has talked to all five party group leaders to ascertain their views on the proposed scheme.
Conservative group leader Isabelle Linington said: “I’m totally opposed to this development. No doubt about it. I think it’s totally inappropriate and shouldn’t even be considered, let alone allowing anything to proceed.”
She added: “Our mantra has always been brownfield sites first; you shouldn’t even consider greenfield sites until you’ve filled all the brownfield sites.” The former biologist also voiced her concerns about the environmental impact. She said: “I’m very worried about it. It would be disastrous if they put a town there. It’s just unthinkable that they could destroy all that land. Also, it’s a nonsense argument to say that people can enjoy the countryside if they lived there because if they build this town, there wouldn’t be any countryside.”
Linington’s views were echoed right across the political spectrum, demonstrating that opposition to the proposed scheme is not governed by party politics.
Zoe Nicholson, Green party leader and Deputy Leader of the Council, said: “I stand horrified with residents about the scale and size of this development in our beautiful countryside, and the impact on the fragile eco-systems in which is it sited.”
Labour leader Chris Collier said: “We shouldn’t be building on green spaces. I think the environmental impact across the whole area is huge. We’re not moving fast enough; we’re trying quite a comprehensive biodiversity strategy at Lewes which we’re pushing forward on but there isn’t enough urgency about the climate crisis in general.”
All the party group leaders mentioned the impact that thousands of additional vehicles would have – with traffic congestion a huge concern. James MacCleary, LibDem leader and current Leader of the Council, said: “What I find most frightening about it (the scheme) is the traffic generation and the carbon impact of all those additional vehicles … and linked to that would be the energy demands of the development and the effect that has in terms of the sustainability of the site. If there is one thing that must be obvious to everyone, it is the fact that the roads there are in no way fit to support a settlement of even the fraction the size.”
Ruth O’Keeffe, co-leader of the council’s Independent group, pointed out that – historically – market towns normally develop organically, and in strategic locations. She said: “(The proposed scheme) is very, very large in the landscape and, although people make reference to much-loved market towns, this is not the usual way a market town is created. Organically developing whatever you have is much more sensible and ensures that the people who live there have the right sort of services. You can declare that everyone is going to be car-free but I can’t see how you can possibly guarantee that. Infrastructure is all of it – it’s going to be very difficult. I can’t see how it’s going to work at all. The existing level of traffic on those lanes is already causing problems."
Zoe Nicholson added: “The main problem with the Government’s planning system is that it incentivises building first and then putting the supporting infrastructure in. That is not sustainable. Any development should not be reliant on people using their cars to live a full life.”
All the leaders stressed the need to prioritise development on brownfield sites. MacCleary said: “Just in Lewes alone we have around 2,000 houses that have planning permission and aren’t getting built. Why aren’t we forcing developers to get on and build those houses or give up the land to someone who will? Developers sit on developable land for years, sometimes even decades, and councils don’t have the power to force them to sell to someone who will build. That’s really the big blockage. It’s a genuine scandal.”
Ruth O’Keeffe added: “In terms of affordable housing, the reluctance of developers to build on brownfield sites has been a disaster. We used to have a target of 20% for affordable housing in Lewes, but in around 2013 … the actual percentage of affordable housing provided was 3%. Brownfield sites come with issues, so developers need to build luxury houses to get their money back. It’s easier for them to meet affordable housing targets on greenfield sites which means they will go for those sites.”
O’Keeffe pointed out that many of those who need affordable housing do not have the sort of lifestyle or job that permits them to be car-free. She said: “People in low-paid work such as nurses, factory workers etc often have to get to work at very unreasonable hours and there simply isn’t the public transport available to get them to their jobs. They are actually quite discriminated against and just can’t conform to these wonderful ideals of not having a car. The same goes for disabled people.”
The need for truly affordable housing was a concern right across the political divide. Zoe Nicholson said: “We need truly affordable and sustainable homes for people to live in – that have less impact on our environment and that address the climate emergency we are facing. Building on our countryside should be the very last thing that happens.”
Chris Collier said: “The housing we actually require is not the housing that’s being built. It’s called “affordable” but actually in the south of England it’s NOT affordable housing. For people seeking to live locally, new housing is not available to them; it’s out of their price range and much of it ends up on the rental market.” Linington believes small developments – with 1-2 bed houses – are the way forward. She said: “We need the right type of housing for villages. Often youngsters want to stay in the villages but can’t afford to.” Zoe Nicholson said the Green Party has been calling for powers for local authorities to bring empty homes back into use.
There was also concern over the impact of the proposed scheme on the lives of villagers in the communities of East Chiltington, Chailey and Plumpton which lie on the edge of the site. MacCleary said: “If the development was to go ahead, then they would no longer be villagers - they’d be living in a small town.” Linington agreed, saying: “They wouldn’t be villages anymore, they would just be the outskirts of this big town. They would totally lose their character; it would just be one big housing estate.”
Zoe Nicholson said the current planning system was “a developers’ paradise.” She said: “We need to give a clear message that enough is enough we need to stop building on our countryside.”
At a national level, Lewes MP Maria Caulfield has dubbed the proposed scheme “completely unacceptable” and said she is “absolutely opposed to building on greenfield sites.” Hove MP Peter Kyle and Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas have also voiced their opposition to the scheme.
Campaign leader Marc Munier said: “The party group leaders on Lewes District Council are unanimous in opposing the scheme – and so are many local MPs. This says a lot about how strongly people feel about this proposed development. Nationally, planning is one of the KEY agendas at the moment and people all over the country are fighting profit-driven schemes like the Eton proposal, whatever party they support. This has become a national crisis. We must protect our open countryside and put developments where they’re needed, not just where they will make the most money.”