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Crawley 2030: council sets out plan for thousands of new homes

Crawley’s Local Plan, which sets out the town’s development and infrastructure needs until 2030, was adopted by Full Council this week.

Crawley 2030 plans the future of the town for the next 15 years and has been developed with feedback from residents, businesses and other stakeholders over several years and stages of consultation.

Following these consultations and modifications to the plan the independent Planning Inspector, appointed by the Government, concluded that the plan was legally compliant and sound.

The council’s vision for Crawley in 2030 is “a modern, vibrant town that stands proud of its achievements and uses its strengths to reach its potential. Its strong and diverse communities, neighbourhood structure, sustainable economic growth and excellent connections within and beyond the region will make it a place that people enjoy and want to live, work and visit.”

The Local Plan includes:

• The allocation of 5,100 new homes in Crawley between 2015 and 2030. Almost 40 per cent of these will be in Forge Wood
• The retention of the current requirement of 40 per cent affordable housing in all residential schemes, subject to viability, and 10 per cent of low cost housing will also be sought on developments of 15 homes or more
• The encouragement of retail and residential use in the town centre
• Protects playing fields and green spaces in the town, including the designation of Ifield Brook Meadows as local green space
• Supports sites for business, jobs and economic growth in Manor Royal.

Councillor Peter Smith, Cabinet member for Planning and Economic Development, said: “It is difficult to over emphasise the importance of having an adopted Local Plan for Crawley and I’m delighted that we have now been able to achieve this.

“It has taken a lot of time and effort to get to this stage and I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the consultations and all the staff involved in creating it. We now have in place a proper approved Plan that will help to define and protect the shape of our town over the next 15 years.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .