Alison Bennett's Monday Mail: The Midterms and the Mid Sussex District Plan

9 Nov 2026

Remembrance

I have been honoured to attend a number of Remembrance events in the last week.

As well as commemorating the fallen of Mid Sussex in Westminster, I went to a Royal British Legion coffee morning in Lindfield, a Remembrance Concert in Haywards Heath, and on Remembrance Sunday I took part in Hurstpierpoint’s Remembrance Parade and Service.

Speaking at the examination hearings for the Mid Sussex District Plan

I took part in the hearings for the District Plan last week. You can read my speech and my written submission to the earlier consultation on the ‘main modifications’ online.

Last Tuesday I emphasised and expanded upon my grave concerns about the water resilience of Mid Sussex. If anything, our water supplies have become demonstrably more acute than they were when the written consultation period closed in September.

Should the planning inspector recommend the district plan as drafted for approval, our district councillors will then be asked to vote for it. As I explained in my speech, this will put these councillors in an invidious position because they know that without an adopted plan, the presumption in favour of sustainable development applies, and speculative applications will follow. The councillors also know that these additional allocations are not sustainable. Not on water, and not on traffic, schools, GP surgeries and the rest of the infrastructure that new communities need. In my view they should not be forced to choose between a plan they know is unsound on the ground and no plan at all.

The US midterm elections

The results in the US midterm elections were truly staggering with the Democrats taking control of Congress, and some ‘safe’ Republican states electing Democrats for the first time in many years. It is too soon to draw any conclusions about what the consequences of these results will be for the rest of Trump’s time in office, and beyond.

A couple of things to ponder though.

I am currently listening to David Runciman and Gary Gerstle try to put the results into a historical perspective on Past Present Future, you might enjoy listening to it too.
On Friday Trump appointed Stephen Miller as his new Chief of Staff. Stephen Miller is a MAGA hardliner, the architect of, amongst other things, the Trumpian approach to immigration enforcement. This appointment does not suggest that Trump has been chastened by his party’s routing in the polls.
A little like Labour’s landslide in the UK general election of 2024, and its subsequent collapse in popularity, the Democrats’ success last week is not the same thing as a positive vote for them, but likely a rejection of the last two years of Trump’s presidency.
Against a backdrop of everyday living expenses getting higher and higher, on both sides of the pond we are in an age when voters’ loyalties should never be taken for granted.

Anthony Platts

I was very sad to learn that Anthony Platts who served Haywards Heath as a district and town councillor died recently. He was a kind, conscientious and generous man, and my thoughts are with his family and everyone who cared for him.

Getting in touch

My parliamentary email address is: alison.bennett.mp@parliament.uk. If you need my help, please get in touch.

Best wishes,
Alison

PS: If you’ve enjoyed this week’s Monday Mail, please spread the word and tell your friends by forwarding it to them. Anyone can sign up here.