Keep Lewes in the National Park:
A Solution to Glenda Slagg's Identity Crisis
After 500 people followed Glenda Slagg and a marching band up School Hill this spring, we were all keen to know "what next?" Jenny Mumford's Glenda Slagg poster and the council's heavy handed response had provoked us all. Aren'tcha sick of it? Too right we were! A small army of Lewesians were ready to fight the developers.
But fight which ones? For what exactly? We were spread out on Priory Field with no one to burn (not even in effigy) and no bulldozers to throw ourselves under. The signs we carried proclaimed the determination of a dozen different action groups and committees. One speaker tried to bring it all together: "Let us be clear about this!" she shouted "We are not against development, we are against BAD DEVELOPMENT!"
Everyone cheered, but you could tell, right then, how weak we still are.
Planning in Lewes is broken. Everyone senses the town needs better protection from floods, ugly buildings and economic decline. But as soon as these fears are raised, they come into conflict. Do we need more shops or light industry? Affordable homes or flood plain? Do we need "a unified approach", or is it grand schemes that cause all the trouble? "Bad development" means nothing until we know enough to define it, and come to some agreement. Any vague concept like ‘sustainability’ can be used to pit do-gooders against one another.
The good news is that Lewes do-gooders aren't stupid. After the march Glenda Slagg posters moved from awareness to education and the multitude of development groups have started talking. A New Battle of Lewes poster and website put all the town's planning issues on one sheet of A4.
Meanwhile, another campaign whose posters have long faded in people's windows may yet hold the solution to all these NIMBY identity crises. In November Lewes will have a new chance to be part of the South Downs National Park. The inspector who originally wanted us out has been asked to rethink. He will submit a new recommendation to Hillary Benn who then has the final say.
Inclusion in the park would change everything. The new authority, governed by a panel of local, parish and national members, would have only one job: to protect and enhance the existing character of the South Downs. With more money and more power, this authority would attract better planning applications and have more clout to turn down the bad ones. The same debates would rage over what should be built, but the wish to protect the town's architectural and cultural heritage would no longer be dismissed as NIMBYism, it would be the law.
So the answer to the question "What Next?" is this:
Write a letter to Hilary Benn!
Rt. Hon. Hilary Benn, MP
Secretary of State fro Environment
Food and Rural Affairs
12 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR
Make these points, as provided by Robert Cheesman of the South Downs Campagin (www.southdownscampaign.org.uk):
1) Welcome both the Inspector's recommendation that a South Downs National Park is established, and his proposed additional areas around Lewes (Ryngmer Park, Gote Farm & East of Glynde).
2) Express disappointment that the Inspector recommends the deletion of Lewes and the Ouse valley north of the thown from the National Park.
3) Express concern that he appears to have justified his recommendation in part by assuming it would reduce the planning workload of the National Park Authority, even though this issue is not part of the designation criteria.
4) Lewes, of all the market towns, is the most embedded within the chalk downlad. Lying neatly within the sweek of the South Downs it largely sits on chalk with fine views both into and out of the town. The many historical features add to the overall beauty of the town's setting.
5) As a market town lewes has always been associatied with the activities on the Downs (sheep farming, horse racing and recreational pursuits).
6) The Ouse Valley north of Lewes is particularly beautiful. Part of it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest for wildlife, whilst it also contains important industrial archeology (First Ouse Navigation Lock and former Offham Tramway).
7) The Inspector's boundry exludes the chalk outlier around Hamsey Church, whilst it also splits Offham in half, contrary to the boundary setting criteria.
8) The Inspector's boundary leaves out a large area of mainly chalk land currently designated as AONB between Offham and Cooksbridge. He has provided no evidence to show this area does not meet the designation criteria. The same is true south of Lewes where he has excluded AONB land near Kingston.
