Time to write to Michael Gove! No Eton New town

Don’t Urbanise the Downs.     

It’s now time to take the fight to a national level by putting pressure on Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Housing.      

We want Gove to re-think – or better still, scrap – the ‘Standard Method’, a mandatory but flawed system of calculating housing figures which is being imposed on local councils up and down the country, including in Lewes.       
 
The ‘Standard Method’ is based on incorrect and outdated population projections and forces local planners to deliver inaccurate and inflated numbers of new houses. It does nothing to alleviate affordable housing needs but does enable developers to maximise profits by concreting over greenfield sites – such as Eton’s plans to build a 3,000-house new town in idyllic Sussex countryside.      
 
Use of the ‘Standard Method’ is one of the key reasons that an unthinkable proposal like Eton’s is even being considered. It’s a bureaucratic blunder which poses a severe threat to 500 acres of our precious downland countryside.
 
Please keep up the fight by writing a short letter to Michael Gove (address below). Here are some of the main points you can cover but please do write in your own words:
 

• The ‘Standard Method’ uses obsolete and inaccurate population forecasts dating from 2014 and should be reassessed – or scrapped altogether
• The most recent figures from the ONS (2016 and 2018) show population numbers are reducing in many areas, especially in London and the South East. This trend is likely to continue – reflecting smaller increases in life expectancy, falls in the birth rate and the impact of Brexit on net migration
• The ‘Standard Method’ forces councils like Lewes to meet unnecessarily inflated house-building targets that far exceed local housing need. Lewes now has to meet a target of 782 new homes a year – an additional 15,640 homes over 20 years. This is a huge increase of almost 38%. With limited brownfield options, the council is forced to consider greenfield alternatives – including Eton’s proposals for a 3,000-house new town on 500 acres of pristine countryside, right on the border of the South Downs National Park.
• The Eton site has no existing infrastructure at all – no mains gas, electricity, sewerage or any main roads. It defies planning logic and best practice as well as all environmental considerations. It directly contradicts Boris Johnson’s pledge not to build new homes on greenfield sites and his commitment at COP26 to halt the progress of climate change
• By moving away from the ‘Standard Method,’ councils could shift higher housing targets to areas with the most available brownfield land, where housing is more affordable and where the economy needs a boost. This will ease pressure to build on countryside in the beleaguered South East – and help the government’s levelling up agenda.