UPDATE: Top Arun councillors face calls to resign over ‘spectacular failure’ of local plan
An open letter signed by 159 residents urges Arun District Council leader Gill Brown and cabinet member for planning and infrastructure Ricky Bower to step down.
The letter follows the likely suspension of the local plan for up to 18 months – a lengthy delay required for further work on updated housing targets.
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Hide AdThe letter reads: “The council has been invited by the inspector to suspend the local plan for a period of 12-18 months in order to bring forward modifications. This constitutes the spectacular failure of a plan, over nine years in the making, and still a long way from completion.”
In response, Mr Bower said the inspector had not found the plan ‘unsound’ but ‘basically incomplete’, while officers and members were still digesting the ramifications of his recommendations.
He added the council approved the submission of the plan last September by recorded vote, with 37 out of the 56 councillors in favour, 12 abstaining and two against. Mr Bower said: “I’m not going to respond with a knee-jerk reaction to this letter. I like things to be seen through and I am going to see it through.”
The local plan sets out the district’s vision for housing and employment until 2031.
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Hide AdIt sets a target for the number of homes which should be built each year – a figure known as ‘objectively assessed needs’ (OAN).
Arun’s plan set a target of 580 homes per year, a figure it raised to 641 in June after new statistics emerged. It wanted to suspend the plan for six months, in order to commission further work on the updated numbers.
But after the plan was submitted, yet another set of statistics were released by the Government, setting the actual number at more than 750 homes per year. The council decided against working towards the 758 figure – despite accepting this was the latest data at a recent planning appeal.
Discussing the issue at a series of public hearings in June, critics of the plan argued this meant it was legally unsound.
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Hide AdFollowing the hearings, inspector Roy Foster wrote to the council last Wednesday, advising it suspended the plan for up to 18 months.
He advised the authority to work towards the 758 homes per year target.
The local plan sub-committee agreed to recommend the suspension to full council at a meeting on Thursday.
Mrs Brown said the council had ‘every confidence’ the plan would have met the inspector’s approval.
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Hide AdShe said: “It is highly unfortunate that our journey towards plan adoption has been blown off course by the council having to respond to the latest household projections from the Office of National Statistics.
“We are obviously disappointed with this outcome that the local plan now has to accommodate a much higher level of housing provision, but we need to respect the inspector’s conclusions.”
Arun Liberal Democrats have criticised the handling of the matter as a ‘shambles’.
Deputy leader Dr James Walsh said he supported the residents and the reasons given for the resignation calls.
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Hide AdHe said: “By their lengthy procrastination over this matter over the last five years, Arun’s Tory leadership has left us in the worst possible position. We have no adopted local plan, and it now may take months, or longer, to get one.”
Arun Lib Dem leader Francis Oppler, meanwhile, said the duo should take ‘complete responsibility’ for the situation.
The open letter in full:
“We are concerned that Arun District Council is failing to provide an acceptable level of service when it comes to strategic planning and that it also lacks the leadership capability necessary to secure improvements.
The council has been “invited” by the inspector to suspend the local plan for a period of 12-18 months in order to bring forward modifications. This constitutes the spectacular failure of a plan, over nine years in the making, and still a long way from completion. This is on top of the recent failure of the St Modwen proposals for Bognor Regis.
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Hide AdIt has been estimated that something in the region of £2.7 million may have been spent (wasted?) so far on these two failed projects. This is unacceptable.
Through its actions and continual delays, the council has created circumstances in which every community in the district is now vulnerable to planning by appeal.
It is time for those responsible to be held to account for their part in this failure of strategic planning.
We call on cllr Mrs Brown, The leader of the council and cabinet member for council strategy and cllr Bower, cabinet member for planning and infrastructure, both of whom have held their respective offices for over nine years, to resign with immediate effect, in order to allow new leaders to come forward and initiate a fresh start for the district.”
Yours sincerely,
Val Allison
Alan Allison
Jon Alward
Jessica Arnold
Nicky Baker
Dougie Baker
Laurie Barnes
Alison Barnham
Sylvia Belcher
Vanessa Bentley
Dominic Bentley
Jeff Berman
Natalie Blissett
Helen Bowles
Eileen Bradbury
Jess Brown
Darrel Burch
Danii Campbell
Helen Cann
Jon Cann
Jason Castle
Ashleigh Charmaine
Robert Clark
Olive Clark
Peter Coleman
Sue Coleman
Lisa Collier
Martin Connelly
Dorothy Constant
Peter Constant
Jo Corell
Gerald Cork
Hugh Coster
Anthony Cross
Jim Darley
Brian Davey
Danny Dawes
Sharon Demers
Laura Denby
Tony Dixon
Alane Dixon
Catherine Dummer
Terry Ellis
Sarah Evans
Dez Farley
Gary Fisk
Lily Fraser
Carol Freeth
Caroline Gibbons
David Gould
Tracey Grattan
Wendy Green
Linda Guy
Audrey Hall
Deborah Hallford
Mary Harvey
Mike Harvey
Mary Herting
Kerry Hills
Simon Home
Danni Hooper
Lee Hooper
J Hopgood
Jacqueline Howard
Denise Jays
Helen Johnson
Dominic Jones
Melanie Jones
Adele Jones
Brigitte Jones
Mike Jupp
Trisha Keegan
Ben Keen
Peter Keen
Chris Kelly
Ren Kitchener
Graham Knight
Jess Knowles
James Lambert
David Lancaster
Lynn Laundon
Tracey Light
Sue Ludlam
Lesley Marsh
Alvin Martinez
Wendy Matthey
Bobbi McBride
Robin McDonald
Jamie Middleton
Helen Miles
Melanie Miller
Simon Mitchell
Tessa Moger
Joanne Moon
Helen Moore
Julie Muir
Ben Mulrooney
Jenny Murphy
Kevin Murphy
Luke Nash
Jon New
Steve Nicholas
Bradley Nicholas
Rose OBrien
Nicola Page
Ian Pears
Danielle Pearson
Lesley Pedwell
David Pedwell
Ian Pedwell
John Penfold
Heather Penfold
Mandy Phillips
Zoe Prior
Mike Purdue
Ann Rapnik
Kerry Redman
Lorraine Ritchie
Gabriella Robinson
Charlotte Robinson
Rita Rogers-Davis
Neil Rogers-Davis
Tracey Salford
Kaye Sawyer
David Sawyer
Sue Sayer
Nicole Scott-Cannon
Jane Searle
Tracey Simpkins
Simone Sinclair
Christopher Sinclair
Margaret Smart
Fred Smart
Nigel Smith
Catherine Southern
Brian Sullivan
Liz Sullivan
Tony Sutcliffe
Elizabeth Swain
Annmarie Taylor
Eileen Taylor
John Taylor
Ken Teasdale
Roger Thomas
Troy Turner
Rosie-Mae Turner-Hughes
Caroline Varatharasan
Alec Wallsgrove
Sue Wallsgrove
Emma West
Suzie Wheller
Susan White
Katie Wilbraham
Richard Wilkins
Janet Wilkins
Maryann Williams
Sarah Williams
Shelley Wingate
Mervyn Woodruff
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