Housing & Environment

Residents of Haywards Heath and Cuckfield will be horrified by the proposals by local Liberal Democrats to build large numbers of houses on the land on the south side of Borde Hill. This is of course an important part of the strategic gap between Cuckfield and Haywards Heath. They also propose to build 700 new houses on the north side of the Cuckfield bypass, in an area that has already been assessed as lacking sustainability by Mid Sussex District Council.

In my opinion, neither of these areas are suitable for housing development. I am committed to maintaining the strategic gap between Cuckfield and Haywards Heath, which is so important in maintaining the separate identities of both communities, and I will oppose large scale housing development in all these locations. Likewise I believed the proposed development off Chatfield Road in Cuckfield is in the wrong place and I continue to support the Chatfield Road residents in their successful opposition to this development.

At their conference last year, Liberals voted to build 1.3 million extra homes. Local Liberals refuse to say how many of these would be built in Mid Sussex, or where.

Of course Labour are no better. They are trying to force Mid Sussex District Council to build 17,100 new homes, without providing any resources to increase the infrastructure required to support such development, such as roads, schools, water and other essentials.

At the recent Conservative Party Conference, we confirmed we will tear up the Govt's South East Plan which is the document which contains the 17,100 target and also abolishes strategic gaps as a barrier to new development.

We are not opposed to new housing development. But we do believe it should be in the right place, it must have the appropriate infrastructure and it must meet local need. And the decisions should be made by the local Council, not some unelected Quango in Whitehall.