Have a look at Ashington, a few miles north of Worthing, and you will get a glimpse of what much of Sussex will look like in the future.

A small village has been bypassed, and now developers are filling in the gaps. In doing so, they are transforming it from a village into a town. Public transport is limited in the area. Most of the newcomers will drive on roads which already carry double the national average rate of traffic.

Only 300 homes are being built here. The Government says more than 50,000 will be needed in West Sussex during the next decade. That's equal to another 16 Ashingtons, and the countryside cannot take any more.

The focus so far has been on West Sussex because of the county council's unsuccessful fight against the Government over new homes. But the position is almost as bad in East Sussex, which is equally beautiful.

Worse may be to come. New projections by Government planning officers say a million more homes will have to be built in the South East, putting even more pressure on Sussex.

Where will they be built? They can't go on the Downs because they are to become a national park and will be sacrosanct. They can't go on the coast because it is nearly all built up anyway.

They can't go in other areas of outstanding natural beauty such as the High Weald and Ashdown Forest. They will nearly all have to go on limited areas of countryside north of the Downs.

Some of them will probably be tacked on to towns such as Billingshurst and Hailsham, once fairly attractive places which have already sprawled almost out of control. Others may be added to villages such as Henfield and Steyning, eroding their rural charm.

There may yet have to be another new town somewhere in the Crawley area, creating a vast new swathe of suburbia in the middle of pleasant green fields. And it may not stop there.

Urban growth has been relentless in Sussex this century and shows no signs of stopping. We are talking so far only about homes in the next decade. It would be foolish to think the pressure will suddenly stop after that.

There is no need for all this housebuilding. The population of Britain is almost static and the birth rate is low. People are dividing themselves into smaller households, but they do not necessarily need more space.

House-builders will always favour counties such as Sussex, which are beautiful, largely prosperous, and close to London. There will be no shortage of people prepared to move into new homes from other parts of the country.

All Sussex councils, of whatever political persuasion, need to combine and present a united front to the Government to say the relentless march of bricks and mortar cannot continue. John Prescott should drive to Ashington in one of his two Jags and see the damage for himself.

Much of Sussex is still a green and pleasant land. But within 30 years, vast tracts will have become ugly and shapeless housing estates benefiting no one but the builders. It is a disgraceful rape of the county and it must be stopped.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.