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Horsham Town Landscape
Assessment
Covering letter
to Horsham District Councillors
1 January 2011
Horsham District Councillors
Park North
North Street
Horsham, RH12 1RL
Dear Councillor
Horsham Town Landscape Assessment
The year ahead will provide many challenges to our
elected members as you strive to maintain essential
services in the face of a difficult financial
situation. But it is in the field of strategic
planning that the decisions you will take next year
will make the most impact on the future of our
District and Horsham town in particular.
The Horsham Society has never been among those who see
change as a threat. We have never opposed the release
of land for housing for its own sake, although we have
expressed concerns about previous targets and
projections. There is little doubt that there is, and
will continue to be, demand for new housing if only to
meet local needs, including contributing appropriately
to a successful local economy.
The review of the core strategy will rehearse the
arguments for and against specific targets and we will
no doubt contribute to that debate. However, as far as
we are concerned the question of where to locate new
development is at least as important as the numbers.
We have long argued against development which would
undermine a community’s sense of identity.
The Horsham Town Design Statement adopted by the
Council in 2008 recognises the need to protect the
town’s setting and relationship with the surrounding
countryside, and the wish to maintain the current
built-up area boundary. The development of the town
has reached its limit if it is to retain its essential
identity.
I am attaching a copy of a brief landscape assessment
prepared for the Society by Roy Worskett which
explains in more detail the constraints to further
development.
In the Society’s view the most acceptable way in which
future needs for housing development can be met is
through the creation of a new town. This would enable
the necessary infrastructure to be put in place
alongside the housing and would help to take the
pressure off the rest of the District.
The Society looks forward to working constructively
with members and officers as the work on the review of
the core strategy moves ahead.
Yours sincerely
John Steele
Secretary, Planning Sub Committee
cc Tom Crowley, Ray Lee and Barbara Childs
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