Concerns over 'unachievable' housing targets

Council leaders in Sussex say space and transport are “major concerns” which give them “no confidence” in achieving the government’s new housebuilding targets.

The responses, obtained by the BBC through Freedom of Information laws, show every council in Sussex has expressed concerns about new targets to build more than 14,000 new homes a year across the county.

The new mandatory housing targets would mean a 24% increase across Sussex on previous goals.

The government says its flagship plan to build 1.5m new homes in England over the next five years is needed to make housing more affordable.

Worthing Borough Council would see the highest rise with a proposed new target of 862 new homes a year - a 168% rise.

Leaders in Adur, Worthing, Hastings and Lewes all say they are constrained by having the sea to the south and the South Downs National Park and High Weald National Landscape to the north, leaving them little room to manoeuvre.

They told the government there was competing demand for employment space, open space and leisure in order to properly plan for sustainable communities.

Horsham District Council and Crawley Borough Council’s responses gave mixed views on the proposals, but both said analysing the use of housing stock and the “genuine housing need” in local areas would be preferable to “any arbitrary target”.

Chichester would need to find space to build 1,200 new homes a year - a 59% rise.

Chichester District Council's Liberal Democrat leader, Adrian Moss, said: “We want sustainable communities.

"We want to build affordable housing for local people. So it is very important for us to deliver on our local plans.

"However, we have a real issue with the infrastructure. That is to do with the A27, water treatment and the electrical supply, which is also causing an issue in our economic development.”

He added: “We are not the ultimate decision makers in terms of those builds, and the government does need to come to the party and support us with our work with Southern Water, with our work with the electrical companies to ensure that infrastructure gets delivered.”

Speaking to the BBC’s Politics Live about councils’ concerns, Deputy Prime Minster and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner says the plans are deliverable and says she “makes no apologies” for enforcing mandatory targets.

Mrs Rayner says: “We are listening to them, and I think those councils will accept as well that this is a real emergency.

"Many councils at the moment are spending huge amounts of money on temporary accommodation which is giving them a financial burden.”

In October’s budget the government announced £500m in additional funding for the Affordable Homes Programme.

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