1. It is considered that the proposed Overall Spatial Development Strategy is unsound because it seeks to focus too much development on Bexhill.

2. A key presumption that underlies the Core Strategy is that the Hastings-Bexhill Relief Road will be built within the plan period. This will facilitate significant development at Bexhill that will help to provide the amount of housing land needed to meet the need for housing in the District. It is clear from the Council's Infrastructure Delivery Plan that while there is a desire for the road to go forward, there is no certainty that it will.

3. The implementation of the road is dependent on the provision public funding, and there is no certainty that the necessary funds will come forward. Further submissions are being made to the Government by East Sussex County Council at the end of 2011 and a decision will be made some time in 2012. Given that a key element of the Core Strategy is based on an eventuality that is, as yet, unknown and uncertain, it must be unsound.

4. It is also the case that the market for housing in Bexhill is not particularly strong and there is considerable doubt that the numbers of houses proposed to be built at the town will actually be delivered.

5. There are other locations in the district that are fully capable of delivering more housing than the Council has identified. There is more scope for development at Rye, Battle and on the fringes of Hastings than the Council has allowed for. Focussing too much development on Bexhill is an unbalanced approach, which will not deliver the amount of housing that the District needs.