All of our Sussex MPs have now made their maiden speeches. Various issues were raised including a lack of housing, poor rental accommodation, affordability and accessibility.
■ Helena Dollimore MP (Lab, Hastings and Rye) criticised Southern Housing and private landlords for low-quality rental accommodation and argued for more protection for renters.
■ Chris Ward MP (Lab, Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven), echoed the same issues in his constituency of poor and overpriced rental accommodation, unreachable house prices, homelessness and a council house waiting list of 7,500 people.
■ Peter Lamb MP (Lab, Crawley) also called for more housing, through efficient housebuilding, less urban sprawl and the development of specific new towns.
Some Sussex MPs focused more on the planning system as the issue.
■ John Milne MP (Lib Dem, Horsham), criticised the method of calculating local housing targets, highlighting that his constituency already has 13,500 unbuilt permissions.
■ Jess Brown-Fuller MP (Lib Dem, Chichester) also felt the housing targets and allocations for Chichester were unsuitable, since 100% of the allocation for housing in her constituency is only 20% of the land.
■ Alison Griffiths MP (Con, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton), echoed the negatives of overdevelopment. Improved infrastructure to support housing, rather than simply meeting housing targets should be seen as a priority.
Some MPs prioritised other issues for their maiden speech, and mentioned housing in their argument, however others avoided the issue of housing entirely.
■ Beccy Cooper MP (Lab, Worthing West) unsurprisingly given her background focused her speech on public health, highlighting the link between poor housing and poor public health.
■ Alison Bennett MP (Lib Dem, Mid Sussex) touched upon the growth in housing without infrastructure, but her main focus was on the need to call for a climate emergency, with specific criticisms of neighbouring London Gatwick airport in her speech.
■ James MacCleary MP (Lib Dem, Lewes) pressed for the redevelopment of Newhaven and Seaford town centres.
The MPs who didn’t mention housing at all were Josh Babarinde MP (Lib Dem, Eastbourne), focused his speech on poverty; Tom Rutland MP (Lab, East Worthing and Shoreham), covered the acceptance and inclusion and Sian Berry MP (Greens, Brighton Pavilion), predictably prioritised the environment.
These maiden speeches reflect a range of perspectives and approaches to many of Sussex’s needs. For some housing was clearly front and center while others took the opportunity to spotlight different challenges facing their constituencies.
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