DescriptionDUTD is a non-political action group set up initially by some East Chiltington residents in March 2021 to fight proposals by Eton College and their development broker Welbeck Land to build a 3,250-house new town on just under 500 acres of land owned by Eton at East Chiltington. Since that time, over 6,000 people from across Sussex and beyond, have signed up to support us. We have a core working group of around 15 people – all with relevant professional expertise – who give their time for free. We call on our supporters for help as and when we need to – for example many helped with our successful Drop in Days in 2021. We communicate with our supporters by e-bulletins and on social media channels. We also have an active website which is currently undergoing a refresh. text goes here

We rely entirely on donations from supporters

We have a good working relationship with ECPC, but we are entirely independent from them. The same is true of other parish councils as well as LDC members and relevant MPs. We are a member of the Community Planning Alliance which currently supports over 400 campaigns like ours and lobbies for change on a national level.

Our aim is to stop the Eton new town from ever being built – and our immediate goal is to stop it being included at all as a possible development site in the Lewes Local Plan (see attached table for summary of past, present and future milestones in the process)

We feel that our best and most effective policy right now is to influence decision-makers on a local level – and to stop this proposal in its tracks. But we are of course keeping a very close eye on housing/planning matters at a national level. The plethora of other groups like ours indicates the strength of public opinion about current government planning policy, which not only goes against its own stated aims on issues like the environment and climate change, but imposes outdated population growth predictions and flawed housing quota formulas onto local authorities so that their hands are more or less tied in terms of producing local plans which meet the criteria they have been saddled with. We also constantly review our actions in the light of developments at national level – and if we need to broaden our approach in the coming months, we are ready to do so.

We totally agree that truly affordable housing is required. But this plan will not deliver that. Eton’s Land Promoters Welbeck Land were responsible for the 1,000-house Ridgewood Place development at Uckfield, where Taylor Wimpey are currently selling Phase 2 houses with a starting price of £371,00!...(https://www.taylorwimpey.co.uk/new-homes/uckfield/ridgewood-place) Of 73 houses in phase 2, only 8 are for sale as affordable homes under shared ownership and just 3 are designated as affordable homes for rent – that’s just 15% of the total. What we need around here are studios and one and two bed flats and houses close to jobs, existing amenities and good public transport links, to enable low-paid and young residents to get on the housing ladder and to get to jobs without using cars. The proposed Phoenix development in Lewes is a good example of this approach.

It also worth noting that the government definition of ‘affordable’ has no connection to income but only refers to a discount on the (undefined) market price. This means that £371,000 could indeed be treated as ‘affordable’ (and thus ironically count towards a promise of delivering affordable houses) as long as the market price for the house is 10% higher.

Not in the numbers claimed by the government, which are based on outdated, inaccurate and inflated 2014 population projections from the Office of National Statistics. The annual housebuilding targets imposed by government on LDC for its new local plan have more than doubled the figures – from 345 to 782 homes a year. This is despite more recent ONS population projections, which show a decline in the country’s population growth. The current target of 782 new houses a year, would create 15,640 more houses by 2040 – which is far too many! It makes no sense at all to build on pristine countryside, next to the SDNP, with rare and endangered flora and fauna, flooding issues and zero existing infrastructure when there are unused brownfield sites and even sites with existing planning permission which have not been built on because developers are waiting for prices to rise. These sites are not even allowed to be carried forward to contribute to annual house building figures in the new Local Plan.

Besides, the ‘housing crisis’ is not a lack of houses on the market: how many estate agencies have you seen with their windows empty? The crisis is in the fact that house prices have increased so much faster that wages that many people now can no longer afford to buy or even to rent one. House prices have also grown much more (several times more) than the population. So clearly the increase in price is triggered by market processes and not by demographic growth!

See: https://www.donturbanisethedowns.com/key-issues

The new ‘branding’ which attempts to ‘distance’ Eton College from the new town development. We believe it has been done deliberately to confuse people and help to protect Eton College from our claims that it should be nurturing the environment for the future of its students and less privileged youngsters – and doing right by the planet. The partnership consists of Eton College (a charity); its land promoters Welbeck Land and The Plunkett Foundation, its ‘advisors,’ also a charity

This is all about greenwashing – the reality will be very different. Yet another executive housing development with eye-wateringly high starting prices, which we do not need in this area.