Mr Chapman (Letters, February 19) rightly observes that by sleight of hand the Government has tricked communities into building their own funeral pyres by getting them to designate areas for house building which would otherwise have been defended and fought over.

Built-up area boundaries to enable house building are being moved all over Sussex, with Henfield’s boundary being a good example.

Once areas for building are approved by these neighbourhood plans any local opposition is effectively stifled. Developers are rubbing their hands.

Our neighbourhood plan for Steyning, Ashurst, Wiston and Bramber, like many others, is overseen and guided by ‘Action in Rural Sussex’ (AirS) who act as consultants. Now while the provision of affordable housing may well be a good thing for our communities, engaging a charity, one of whose major roles is the provision of housing ‘in partnership with’, The Hastoe Housing Association, with The English Rural Housing Association, with Saxon Weald and with Raglan (source AirS website) is unlikely to result in the truly independent advice on community housing needs one would want from a consultant.

Particularly when every affordable home is likely to need several private sector homes built to pay for it. One wonders why so many parish councils are unquestioningly retaining this agenda-driven organisation as their consultants.

It looks as though a rural building boom is looming.

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