It was announced by the Labour Government last week that, at long last, a planning restriction being applied to most of Crawley Borough, described as “water neutrality” will be removed from the end of the month.
This, in short, was the position when you cannot build anything or start any new activity within the area affected that uses more water than was in place before, and that planning permission could not be granted.
Using the planning system to enforce such a restriction was a recipe for inertia, and so it has proved. Since introduced in September 2021 it has permeated everything.
For a healthy and prosperous community, there has to be some kind of growth and flexibility. With water neutrality, there was none. It stopped the big things (such as new housing estates) down to even relatively small things, (the prohibition on the planning change of use for example on a betting shop on the High Street becoming a Taco Bell instead).
When I became leader of the council, I inherited this position, and although we had finally worked a way around for a limited number of projects using water credits saved by making efficiencies elsewhere, this will simplify matters even more so.
We have a housing emergency and we were poised to build substantial numbers of more council housing. There are plans for over 540 council homes and with so many local people stuck in temporary accommodation, or with an eligible local connection on the housing waiting list, they are sorely needed, and this will help a great deal.
Some complain about this decision being announced at a time Ardingly Reservoir has been declared by South East Water to be in drought. Truth be told, Ardingly and the part of Crawley that water company primarily serve (Maidenbower) was never in the area affected by water neutrality and Ardingly’s water levels are customarily low this time of year because it replenishes over the October to April period. Most of Crawley is served by another water source around Pulborough Brooks.
I know some will also be unhappy as having a general prohibition on development was the simple answer to preventing any particular development that they didn’t want.
All I will say is while this decision will open more things up, some empathy wouldn’t go amiss. We can now move to discussions about why we should or shouldn’t do something, rather than why we can’t do anything, which in the pursuit of building and maintaining healthy, prosperous and socially valuable communities is an incredibly good thing. And Crawley will reap the benefits.
Cllr Michael Jones
Leader, Crawley Borough Council