Crawley Draft Local Plan housing need should be adjusted

CPRE Sussex considers that Strategic Policy H1: Housing Provision is unsound.

Policy H1 is unsound for the following reasons:

1. By means of the Standard Method formula the Draft Local Plan identifies a minimum housing need for the plan period of 12,080 dwellings, of which because of severe land-supply constraints only 5,030 (41,64%) can be accommodated within the borough.

2. The draft plan assumes that under the duty to cooperate the resultant unmet need of 7,050 dwellings can and will be accommodated by other local authorities, primarily Horsham and Mid Sussex.

3. Whether the intended recipients have the capacity within their environmental and infrastructure constraints to accommodate all the 7,050 dwellings, as well as their own substantial Standard Method housing needs, is assumed, not considered by the draft plan.

4. Usage of the Standard Method formula is not mandatory. Therefore, to enable the Duty to Cooperate to be fulfilled sustainably, and to ensure a sustainable future for their communities, whether and how many of the 7,050 new dwellings can/could be accommodated by the intended recipients should be determined in consultation with them. Environmental and infrastructure constraints, including the requirement for development to achieve Water Neutrality in Horsham District and much of Crawley Borough, need to be considered.

Crawley’s unmet housing need should be adjusted accordingly.

Read: CPRE Sussex Crawley Local Plan Representation re Strategic Policy H1