Horsham District Planning Framework
Strategic Sites for Housing
The next stage in the process of updating the local
development plan will be the publication of the
Council’s preferred options for strategic sites.
These are likely to include the area to the north of
the A264.
The Society has consistently opposed
any new development beyond our northern boundary
because we believe that Horsham cannot grow larger
in size whilst retaining a sense of identity, and
the physical barrier created by the A264 would leave
an orphan community which looked primarily to
Crawley for shopping and services. This would have
long term implications for the strategic gap.
There has been a lot of talk of a new
public/private hospital as part of a development
here. Although still very sketchy, and far from
certain, if it were a real possibility it would be
interesting to see whether views change.
Meanwhile, its worth reminding
ourselves of the description of the area included in
Roy Worskett’s Town Landscape Assessment published
in the January 2011 edition of the Newsletter:
“A flat area of trees and fields
that form the foreground to Hurst Hill, the high
land to the north on which sits Rusper village. To
the east the railway and Crawley Road give views of
a well treed and rolling landscape.”
John Steele
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