Comment: Why We Need an Infrastructure-First Approach to Development

When I join parish councils and community groups for Q&A sessions across the constituency, the topic of planning and development is always high on the agenda. The question is always similar: “Why can’t we have an infrastructure-first approach to development?” 

It’s a question I raise regularly in Parliament. Last week, I asked the Secretary of State to meet with me to discuss the very acute challenges we face in our area regarding the infrastructure needed to support the large-scale development we have seen over the last decade. 

Jess Brown-Fuller in Itchenor.

The example I raised was that of the 300-home Highgrove development in Bosham. A planning condition attached to the development required that water infrastructure issues be addressed before any homes on the site could be occupied. The Highgrove Implementation Monitoring Group has been sounding the alarm since the development began. However, capacity at the local wastewater treatment works has not been addressed; the site is running at full capacity and over the winter months there have been reports of sewage flowing into local streets from manhole covers. The system is overwhelmed. 

Unsurprisingly, the developers are now returning to the District Council to have the planning condition removed so that they can begin moving homeowners into their properties. The local District Councillor has rightly “red-carded” the application, meaning it will be heard by the Planning Committee. 

I wonder whether, when these unsuspecting new residents were being shown around the Highgrove site, they were told that their view might include lines of large tankers queueing to remove sewage from the development because the necessary infrastructure had not been put in place before the homes were built. I cannot imagine that featured prominently in the brochures. 

Over the weekend, hundreds of concerned residents took to the streets in Bosham, outside the Highgrove development, to protest against developers seeking to bypass planning conditions. It clearly demonstrated the strength of local feeling. 

If the government had accepted my amendment to the Planning & Infrastructure Bill, namely, to list water companies as statutory consultees on planning applications, I believe this situation could have been avoided. However, this government seems intent on imposing even higher housing targets on areas like ours than those we already had to manage under the Conservative government and it does not appear to view infrastructure such as wastewater as a material consideration. 

I will continue to press for that meeting with the Secretary of State and will report back to constituents afterwards.