:: East Grinstead Post Referendum Campaign ::

October 24

Town Council Submission on Core Strategy

Special Town Council Meeting 27 October

Following the vigorous public discussion of the the Three Tiers Group report at Tuesday's Town Meeting, East Grinstead Town Council will hold a Special Town Council Meeting on Tuesday 27 October where they will agree the final text of their submission to Mid Sussex. (see below for proposed text)

What happened at the Town Meeting

The Town Meeting was chaired by Town Councillor Rob Musk who was joined on the platform by colleagues from all three tiers of local government. It was called as an agreed follow up to the last Town Meeting on the Core Strategy held in February 2008.


Bernard Gillbard Town & District Councillor	Liz Bennett Town, District & County Councillor	Heidi Brunsdon Town, District & County Councillor	James Baldwin Leader of Town Councillor	Rob Musk Town Councillor who chaired Town Meeting

Cllr Rob Musk started by reminding the meeting of the significance of the Core Strategy and how it sits in terms of other planning policies. He went on to stress its importance as it will, once adopted, become the principle document against which all future planning applications will be judged.

Cllr Musk went on to explain how it would replace the current MSDC Local Plan [ click here ] which was adopted in 2004 following an EiP. This had concluded that development opportunities at East Grinstead were severely constrained by the infrastructure deficit that Mid Sussex District Council had allowed to build up over many years and the location of East Grinstead in and close to countryside of great significance. Since 2004, of course, matters have deteriorated significantly.

The meeting was then thrown open to the floor for questions and comments. Speakers welcomed the opportunity to comment on the Three Tiers Group's paper and, in general, supported its overall thrust.

However, concerns were raised on the following points where speakers felt the document could be more explicit and more forthright. Disappointing experiences of MSDC trying to mis-represnt or dismiss the clear views of the town in recent years led many speakers to call on the Town Council to take a tough negotiating position. The principle points raised included:

	That large gaps remain in the MSDC Evidence Base making it impossible to plan properly.
	The need to make it clear that it was MSDC's responsibility to produce a plan that would meet, genuinely, the needs of the local community and not to impose one from Haywards Heath.
	The need to complete the further traffic studies, to establish the upper ceiling on development numbers that the traffic constraints imposed. To cost and detail the improvements required and upon which any development must be made contingent.
	The need to make it incumbent on MSDC to word the Core Strategy in such a way as to make any development explicitly contingent on delivering off all the necessary infrastructure - in particular detailing the traffic measures and the criteria for traffic relief that must be met. All infrastructure requirements should be expressly detailed in the Development Plan Document.
	The need for MSDC to carry out some thorough analysis on the current employment situation in the town and to produce a credible strategy to attract new jobs commensurate with the scale of housebuilding contained within the plan. The strategy would need to reverse the current trend where jobs are being lost from the town and something like 3,000 new jobs need to be created. And it must include practical ways to measure, monitor and manage delivery of these new jobs.
	The need for MSDC to publish the 'Appropriate Assessment', required under the Habitats Directive, that should fully evaluate the impact of the proposed level of development on Ashdown Forest, without delay. It is clear that the conclusions of this assessment must be available before any substantial development can be contemplated at East Grinstead and in the event that the current Local Plan policy of development constraint adopted at East Grinstead is to be broken.
	The need for a comprehensive and robust evidence base to be completed by MSDC, with time allowed for Councillors to properly digest all of the information before the Council Leadership finalise their preferred option and put it to Councillors for approval.
	The need for the details of the East Grinstead plans to be contained within the Core Strategy or within a separate Development Plan Document to ensure that the proposals are properly scrutinised at an Examination in Public - putting the crucial detail into a Supplementary Planning Document would mean that there would be no public scrutiny in front of an independent planning inspector and would be undemocratic and unacceptable.
	The need for the District Council to clearly list out the sites which they expected to come forward and which provide the total build for East Grinstead during the plan period and so to show precisely what that total number adds up to.
	The meeting expressed overwhelming opposition to the idea of a strategic development of 570 houses whichever site was brought forward - Imberhorne, Tilkhurst or Hill Place farms - noting that this view had been clearly stated in the Resolution of the February 2008 meeting. The meeting noted that the evidence did not support any such strategic development.
	To reiterate the last point a motion was put from the floor explicitly opposing strategic development on Imberhorne Farm which the District Council Leadership have indicated they prefer. This was passed unanimously.
	Many speakers expressed concern about the way in which MSDC have approached development issues hitherto and expressed scepticism that any infrastructure promises made by MSDC would be honoured. They urged the Town Council to be very cautious of any promises that were made by MSDC on infrastructure or traffic relief if there is no clear way of ensuring delivery and remedying any shortfall by MSDC. Concern was raised that earlier promises from MSDC had not been honoured.

At the end of the Town Meeting the Leader of the Town Council, James Baldwin, promised that the council would consider all of the points (made during the meeting or that had been submitted in writing to the Town Clerk) as it finalised its draft for consideration at the Special Council Meeting.

The final draft will be discussed by Councillors at a Special Town meeting on Tuesday 27 October at 7.45pm in the Council Chamber, East Court. Members of the public may view proceedings from the public gallery.

Minutes of October 05 meeting & Report of the Three Tiers Group	Leader's report and proposed final text for Town Council Submission - amended to take into account the comments form the public at the Town Meeting. To be considered by full Council on 27 October
[ Click here ]	[ Click here ]

News archive

"In our opinion the PSCS (Pre-submission Core Strategy) and the Sustainability Appraisal (SA) do not meet the tests of soundness against which these documents will be measured by planning inspectors during an independent examination and there is a high likelihood that the documents will be found 'unsound'."
Conclusion of Savills Hepher Dixon - March 2008

"...As a result of these environmental and highway constraints ... the overall strategy for the future development of East Grinstead is one of restraint..... (with) only very modest amounts of new housing .... at East Grinstead..."
MSDC Local Plan 2004

The impact of more cars on Ashdown Forest is a critical factor that the District Council must take into account

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