Huw Merriman, MP for the Bexhill and Battle constituency, has this week raised the local challenges of building and development In East Sussex with the new Minister for Housing, Stuart Andrew MP. 

With reforms to planning legislation in the pipeline, Mr Merriman proposed to the Minister that any targets for local authorities within his constituency, Rother and Wealden, should be based on the planning applications they grant and not the number of homes built by the developers. 

The MP said “Local Authorities are responsible for granting planning permissions; they don’t build the homes. By focusing targets on the number of homes built, which are outside of the control of the local authority, we just end up requiring our councils to grant more and more planning permissions rather than addressing the need for developers to build where they already have permission to do so. Add to this the need for 5 years of housing supply and we have constituencies like ours, where 85% of land is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with more areas blighted by planning consents which are not built out. This is no good for those living here and no good for those waiting for their home to be built.“

In response, the Minister agreed that there needed to be a move to focus on how to get existing sites built out and referenced that measures and incentives were needed, as part of the reforms, to require developers to do so.

In the meeting, the MP also pressed the case of local Towns and Parishes who are concerned that the funding costs for local neighbourhood plans may not be maintained. The MP urged funding to continue, pointing that parishes with plans tended to deliver more homes in more harmonious circumstances. Other policy areas discussed by the Minister included strengthening planning enforcement, addressing capacity within planning departments and giving more choice to older residents seeking to downsize or find more appropriate housing for advanced needs. The Minister is setting up a Taskforce to give more focus to the needs of older people. 

Speaking after the meeting, the MP said “With a new Minister in place, it is important to raise the challenges specific to our area. We have a problem with high house prices and low average wages. I want to see new homes built to give people a chance to get on the housing ladder. The present system doesn’t deliver enough homes and blights the area with far too many planning permissions being granted. Let’s focus on building out in areas where consent has been granted and give the surrounding areas a break from even more planning applications.”