Andrew Griffith, the Arundel and South Downs MP, joined members of the community on Wednesday evening in Milland as guest speaker at their annual parish assembly meeting.
The MP was hosted by Louise Myles (Chair of the Parish Council) and was joined by Councillors Brett Burkhart and Cllr Francis Hobbs to an evening well attended by residents - including one very content and composed cat whom Andrew likened to Larry, the 10 Downing Street cat.
The choice of questions put to the MP by this rural community was revealing. In particular, residents were keen to hear in detail the impact and process of local reorganisation from government. This comes after the recent announcement from the Secretary of State for Housing’s plans to divide and cut up Sussex councils, a plan which could see rural communities around Midhurst lumped in with Crawley!
There were also questions around unauthorised ‘traveller’ developments and planning breaches. Councillor Brett Burkhart spoke of the challenges that the community faced in Lurgashall last May when the travelling community attempted to turn fields into a residential caravan park and how important it is to work together with a strong voice and swift measures to counter this disruption and disregard of our planning system. Mr Griffith explained how leaving the ECHR would help fix what is currently a ‘two tier’ planning system.
Following the public event Andrew Griffith said:
“It was fantastic to be invited back to Milland again, a beautiful rural village that became part of my constituency after the changes to the parliamentary boundaries in 2024.
I would like to thank Louise for hosting the evening and to Cllr Brett Burkhart and Cllr Francis Hobbs for coming along to support the community – and to the residents for their many questions.”
