Local plan is backed, but without housing allocations

PARTS of Arun’s local plan have been approved at sub-commitee level – but without the key decision on where 580 homes should be built each year.
By The Newsroom
Published 31st Jan 2014, 12:41 BST
Arun's council chamberArun's council chamber
Arun's council chamber

The local plan sub-committee met on Thursday to agree the elements of the local plan, but housing allocations and related infrastructure will be considered separately.

News that the council would not be considering strategic allocations came as a surprise to some in the audience, who quickly filed out of the council chambers after Ricky Bower began the meeting with the announcement.

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With the contentious topic of housing allocations off the agenda, the meeting passed with little controversy – in stark contrast to last month’s full council meeting when councillors approved plans to build 580 homes a year until 2029.

The issue of affordable housing was raised by councillor Roger Nash, who said the council should aim to increase the provision of cheaper housing it intends to provide from 30 per cent to a higher figure.

He said: “We should be raising the affordability of the housing by five per cent because I think the time has come for us to be more radical about that.”

In response, Ricky Bower, cabinet member for planning and infrastructure, said the difficulty in increasing the threshold of affordable housing was that it would often make sites commercially undeliverable.

For the full story, read the Littlehampton Gazette on Thursday, Febraury 6.