Housing

The previous Labour Government imposed a target of 74,600 new houses on West Sussex over the next 20 years – an annual average of 3,730.

The figures represented a significant increase on the original targets set out in the draft South East Plan, prepared by the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA), which proposed 58,000 new houses.

Nick, like many local people, is concerned that the county does not have the infrastructure to support development on this scale. West Sussex is already experiencing serious water shortages. Public services are under intense pressure. Key roads such as the A27 urgently need upgrading.

Our infrastructure is struggling to cope with the county’s existing population, let alone many thousands more.

With the average home in the South East costing nearly £210,000 (February 2010) and the typical deposit having risen dramatically in the last ten years, Nick acknowledges the severe problems facing many first-time buyers and key workers.

He does not, however, believe that the solution to this problem is unwanted large scale development slapped onto West Sussex.

If we are to meet the needs of first-time buyers and key workers, there must be affordable housing in suitable and sustainable locations, determined not by unelected and unaccountable regional planners, but by our own democratically elected local councils who know and understand the areas they represent.

The top-down system of national and regional targets will be swept away by the new Coalition Government, together with the regional spatial strategies that drove them. Instead, local communities will be given proper incentives to build new homes and will be able to decide for themselves what level of housebuilding is appropriate for them.

Here you can read Nick's news releases, speeches and articles on housing.

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