Page 366 - All files for Planning Inspectorate update

Yet the majority of residents accept the need for new homes. The survey showed that
38% felt 16 to be an appropriate target, while 23% favoured a target between 16 and
30. 11% said none should be built, while 12% wanted 30 or more. There is a desire for
a mixture of housing types, with highest support for small family homes for sale
followed by affordable homes for local people to rent, and lowest support for large
family homes for sale.

Residents state that good design is important and new houses should not have a
harmful impact on existing homes.

There are currently 740 dwellings in the village with planning permission in place for
three more (November 2014). The majority of homes are owner occupied.

There are 77 units of affordable housing, including one shared ownership dwelling
and 12 new homes on a rural exception site. 54 units have been sold under the right to
buy scheme since 1990.

Our Neighbourhood Plan seeks to ensure a supply of sufficient homes to meet local
needs and contribute to the retention of a sustainable community. An appropriate
housing mix must suit elderly residents as well as first time buyers and those needing
affordable homes. Valued parts of the landscape will be protected by building as far as
possible on brownfield sites or sites where development will not have a harmful
impact on the countryside and AONB.

The NPPF, paragraph 14 outlines the presumption in favour of sustainable
development. Paragraph 115 states that great weight should be given to conserving
landscape and scenic beauty in AONBs, which have the highest status of protection in
relation to landscape and scenic beauty, and paragraph 116 states that planning
permission should be refused for major developments in an AONB except in
exceptional circumstances and where it can be demonstrated they are in the public
interest.

Identifying Housing Needs

As local planning authority, MSDC has determined the Objectively Assessed Need
(OAN) for the district using projected growth figures provided by the Government.
In its Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment (HEDNA), which was
updated in June 2015, MSDC set an OAN figure for the district of 11,152. The emerging
District Plan provides for 11,050 new homes in the district by 2031.
A target for Ashurst Wood based on a straightforward proportionate share would be
144 new homes.

However, the objective figures do not take account of existing commitments (planning
permissions already granted) or the proposed large development at Burgess Hill that

AWNP March 2016 Page 23