'Naive and reckless': MP hits out at Horsham's Local Plan for future development

The plan sets out where and how much housing development will take place across the district over coming years. But Horsham MP Jeremy Quin is far from impressed.

He says the council’s attitude towards water neutrality which underpins the proposed levels of development is ‘naïve and reckless’ and grossly underestimates the amount of water required by householders.

He met with officials from Natural England – which originally identified concerns over excessive water extraction in the area – last week and later said that water levels have been so depleted that there is a threat to bio diversity.

“This threat is unique to our part of the country and must be reflected fully in the Local Plan,” he said. However, he said, the plan assumed that new residents would use only 85 litres of mains water per day – although the standard in current building regulations is 125 litres with average use far highter.

"Horsham District Council’s expectation implies new residents will only use enough mains water for just one short shower a day and nothing else. This would imply no use of mains water for a bath, for drinking, for flushing toilets.” He said there also appeared to be no plans for the council to monitor water usage to enable it to challenge the effectiveness of developers’ solutions.

He added: “I believe Horsham District Council’s plan is naïve in expecting a huge change in human behaviour and massive investment by developers in unproven technology, none of which will be monitored. They have adopted targets for today that are generally regarded as an aspiration for the distant future and only achievable with extensive, tested investment by developers and residents.