At Parliamentary Questions in the House of Commons on 7th July 2009, Nicholas Soames asked the Housing Minister, John Healey, (Hansard Vol. 495, No.107, Col 831), if he would accept that given the unfairness of the way the Government fails to provide for a full social infrastructure in the South East, it was not possible to achieve the level of building of affordable houses that the Government wishes to see in Mid Sussex.

Nicholas Soames remarked afterwards that he thought the Minister had been thoroughly unhelpful, and failed to acknowledge the great difficulty in Mid Sussex of coping with such a large potential numbers of houses.