Plans to build 74 homes in Ashington have been approved by Horsham District Council.
The application from Penn Gardens Ltd, for land east of Mousdell Close, was given the nod by the planning committee on Tuesday (March 17).
The council received 147 objections to the plans, with concerns raised including over-development, the loss of green space, road safety, congestion, and flooding.
The fact that the site was not allocated for housing in the Ashington Neighbourhood Plan was also raised, with the Parish Council filing its own objection.
It stated: “To override the made [Plan] fundamentally erodes the ethos of empowering communities to ensure the right development is delivered in the right place in the village – a key aspect of the Localism Act 2011.”
The site is included in the district council’s emerging Local Plan, for at least 75 homes – though that Plan is yet to won’t be examined by the planning inspector until April.
Despite this, it still carries weight when deciding a planning application, as does the fact that the council cannot demonstrate that it has a five-year supply of housing land.
Alan Manton (Ind, West Chiltington, Thakeham & Ashington) pointed out that the Neighbourhood Plan was less than five years old and included site allocations that had already met Ashington’s housing requirement up to 2031.
He told the committee: “If you approve this application, you do not just undermine one village, you tell every parish in Horsham district that their made Neighbourhood Plans are worthless the moment an applicant waves an emerging draft and a supply shortfall.”
Claire Vickers (Con, Southwater North) sympathised with the parish council but pointed out that, when the district council refused an application for Southwater, it lost an appeal because it did not have the five-year land supply.
Mrs Vickers said she had ‘significant concerns’ about doing that again and understood why officers had recommended the plans for approval.
The development will be made up of 14 one-bedroom and eight two-bedroom flats, ten two-bedroom, 29 three-bedroom, and 13 four-bedroom houses. Twenty-five of the new homes will be classed as affordable.
The application was approved by nine votes to four. To view it in full, log on to public-access.horsham.gov.uk and search for DC/25/1327.
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