Page 159 - MJC submissions

9 Ashbourne House
Lewes Road
Ashurst Wood
East Grinstead
West Sussex RH19 3TB
Telephone 01342 312050 & Email: comer@btinternet.com

1 October 2018
st

Dear Caroline,
Thanks for your response which, I am sorry to say, does not answer my concerns.

I understand the extensive process AWVC went through to prepare the Neighbourhood Plan
(AWNP) and the complicated and sometimes conflicting policies that should, would, could or
might apply depending on wind-direction and phases of the moon. Digging into planning
stuff reminds me of Alice in Wonderland: “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in
rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.”
The points set out in my emails of 5 and 12 September 2018 (Copied for ease of reference
th
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at Attachment 1) are very important and I had hoped Jenny Forbes, who headed the AWNP
Steering Group, would be willing to speak to me to clarify what appears to be serious
arithmetical and process errors. These opened the way for the ridiculous application for
construction of 71 “utilitarian and starkly rural” flats on the Wealden House EDF (WH:EDF)
site and lurking plans for more on the EDF Life Improvement Centre site (WH:LIC).
My starting point is the vision in AWNP which is to “preserve and protect AW’s characteristics
as a rural village, while at the same time ensuring that it remains a vibrant, safe and
welcoming community, and an attractive location for people to live” and the NPPF’s
principle that new dwellings - in terms of location, density, design etc should be justified by
an Objectively Assessed Need (OAN).

It should be noted that Category 3 settlements, in which Ashurst Wood is included, have an
average density of 1.2 dwellings per hectare (1.2 DdHa). Ashurst Wood is already over-
developed at 3.19 DdHa.

The NPPF proposes a preponderance in favour of any development that conforms to the
above and which is included in a “made” plan. The AWNP is the made plan for the village
and is the keystone for the current application. It follows that if there are procedural,
arithmetical or other errors in the plan it cannot be relied upon and should be corrected.
I contend that the AWNP is invalid because, among other things:

• The calculation of the “potential housing capacity” of “50+” dwellings on the WH:EDF
site (equivalent to 64 dwellings per hectare: DdHa) results from an arithmetical error or
from a breach of process in which the AWVC Steering Group had a rush of blood and
completely ignored its vision and accepted a density that was the polar opposite of rural.
(Please see Attachment 2: from the AWNP Sustainability Appraisal Update of September Page 1
2015).