Reader's letter: Mid Sussex District Plan consultation makes people go round in circles to leave comment

In the Middy of November 10, there is an article headed ‘District Plan consultation’.

The problem is how do members of the public ‘consult’? There is no information in the Midi article so I looked online.

I eventually found a page headed ‘Revised District Plan set for public consultation’. The article mentions that ‘The Government’s Standard Method for calculating future housing need, sets Mid Sussex, a minimum requirement of delivering a further 8,169 new homes from 2021-2039’. At the end it says, ‘The revised draft District Plan is available to view online at www.midsussex.gov.uk/districtplan’.

Click on that and… more useless information, but hang on it says, ‘Comments can be submitted online at www.midsussex.gov.uk/districtplan’.

Ah this is what I want, even though we have gone around in a circle… but no, surprise surprise, the consultation is not there.

But, hang on, there is another link, ‘Further information on the Regulation 18 consultation can be found on the District Plan Review page or the District Plan 2021-2039 consultation page’.

Then, at last, tucked away at the foot of the page is what I have been looking for, ‘Respond by making comments on the consultation page’.

Simple, all I now need to do is read all 19 parts of the document, followed by all 85 tables of policy, and I am there at last!

Okay, I have got it, so now I want to comment on a policy, so I choose the one I want and… hang on… ‘Before adding a comment, you must log in or register’ – Ahhhhhhhhhh.

I have little doubt that when this consultation ends on the Monday, December 19, 2022, Mid Sussex will throw up their hands in despair at just how few people actually commented.

We pay a lot of money to employ Mid Sussex District Council executives.

The question is, what planet are they actually recruited from?

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