We must tackle over population in Sussex, says Trimingham

It is more important even than climate change and is also a major contributor towards it. Sir David Attenborough, the distinguished naturalist, is the most prominent public figure warning against it.

He points out that there are three times as many people in the world now than there was when he started working less than 60 years ago and the world simply cannot go on like that.

Sir David is the modern day version of Thomas Malthus, the academic clergyman who gave dire warnings about population 200 years ago.

Malthus said there were ways of raising the death rate and reducing numbers by famine, disease and war but it was far better to concentrate on lowering the birth rate, which would help reduce poverty.

He said population growth was infinitely greater than the power of people to provide enough sustenance for themselves. If that was true in 1810, how very much truer it is today.

Sir David Attenborough is also a patron of the Optimum Population Trust. He recommends that Britain’s numbers, currently more than 60 million, would be better at half that figure. Instead projections indicate that it will rise to 70 million within a decade or two.

Here in Sussex we have population problems which are local manifestations of the national and international crisis.

We have more than 1.5 million people in a county which is barely 80 miles long and less than 30 miles wide. The figure is growing relentlessly year by year.

Sussex today would be unrecognisable to the Rev Thomas Malthus who probably knew it well as he lived nearby at Guildford in Surrey. It has also changed enormously during the working life of Sir David.

Much of the damage on the coast was caused between the wars by almost uncontrolled development in places such as Peacehaven and Pevensey. Mile after mile of open country close to the sea was concreted over to build unlovely enclaves such as Rustington, East Preston, Felpham, East Wittering and Selsey.

Even worse was to follow inland. Huge estates started to cover the Downs around Brighton and Worthing at High Salvington, Findon, North Lancing, North Southwick, Mile Oak, Hangleton, Hollingbury, Coldean, Moulsecoomb and Woodingdean.

Pleasant small towns like Polegate, Billingshurst, Crowborough and East Grinstead were expanded to several times their original size by the addition of dreary suburbs.

In Mid Sussex, Keymer, Hassocks, Haywards Heath, and Burgess Hill mushroomed to become one vast urban area with few green gaps between them.

Horsham grew so much that it almost bumped into the new town of Crawley creating another big built up area in the north of the county that perhaps should be renamed Crawlsham (there already is a Horley).

Green fields were swallowed for housing to such an extent that today it is hard to spot a single cow on the rail journey from Brighton to London.

The once peerless market gardens around Worthing have dwindled as land owners found there was much more money to be made from bricks and mortar than there ever was from tomatoes and dahlias.

Planners have rightly protected the best parts of Sussex so that it is hard to build in the new South Downs National Park or in areas of outstanding natural beauty such as the Ashdown Forest.

But the relentless demand for housing continues so that pressure is placed on parts of the Weald, adding hundreds of houses to towns and villages like Steyning, Henfield, Uckfield and Hailsham.

The individuality of these places is fast being eroded as rich newcomers move in and locals depart because they are unable to afford to live there. No wonder Sussex has become one of the first counties in England to have almost lost its accent.

Stand in Swan Walk, Horsham or in the Arndale Centre at Eastbourne and you could be anywhere with the chain stores proliferating and little left of local note.

The population explosion has also put intolerable pressure on the county’s infrastructure. Landfill sites are almost full in most areas so that rubbish has to be taken further and further away if it cannot be recycled.

Roads are twice as busy as the national average even though many of them such as the A27 and A23 have largely been made into dual carriageways. Bypasses have been built around most major towns, scarring the countryside.

The Brighton to London railway is so popular that no more trains can be squeezed on to it - yet providing more lines could be impossibly expensive.

Many of the new houses have been built on flood plains and this can cause problems during wet weather as the terrible deluges proved last year and in 2000.

Yet during long dry spells forecasters believe will become increasingly common each summer, we face water shortages unless more land disappears for reservoirs like the one planned for Ringmer.

Sussex feels uncomfortably overcrowded. There is no corner of it left that is not subject to some form of alien noise whether it is from planes, trains or cars.

Look out of the plane window as you are circling Sussex before landing at congested Gatwick Airport and you will see acres of new homes.

Many people from other parts of Britain want to live in Sussex because of its beauty, its climate and its close connections to the capital.

Yet much of that beauty has already been lost and little will be left if housing continues to expand.

The main problems have been caused by successive governments setting councils huge targets for building new homes. When John Prescott was in charge of the environment, he seemed to take perverse pleasure in cramming more and more people into the south.

Sussex councils need to stop the expansion urgently. They should band together with MPs and tell ministers there must be a moratorium on new house building.

If that is not possible, then as little as possible must be built and that largely reserved for housing local people at affordable prices.

It might be worth enlisting the support of someone both eminent and respected such as Sir David Attenborough to make the case.

Halving the population of Sussex, as Sir David hopes will happen to Britain, is probably not a feasible proposition. Simply stopping the increase will do.

But our problems are little local difficulties compared with what is happening in the rest of the world.

The planet is in danger of being swamped by human beings whose sheer numbers will cause almost unimaginable problems and prove Malthus right after all.