‘Bulldozed’ plans for homes on pub site will ‘ruin’ Cowfold

Locals say an application for 12 homes and flats at the site of a vacant pub was submitted with little consultation.

Stephen Clark, 46, said: “A developer has come and tried to put in as many houses as possible.

“We don’t like the way plans have been bulldozed through.”

Under proposals put forward by developer Pegasus the first floor of the Coach House would be split up into three flats, the outbuildings would be converted into residential properties, while six homes would be built on land to the rear of the pub.

The application includes access arrangements on to Brook Hill, 15 car park spaces, pedestrian access on to The Street, and associated landscaping.

Protesters have created social media accounts in a bid to spread the word about their campaign.

They include a Facebook page called ‘Save Cowfold! A village under threat’.

Mr Clark continued: “Of course we would have preferred a public house to still be in the village, but that was clearly not viable.

“We think these plans will ruin the character of the village, and there’s not been enough consideration for that’.

Village resident Lynne Sorrell said she has a number of concerns over the plans, not least the impact on infrastructure and air pollution.

She takes issue with ‘the cramped and overdeveloped design of the proposed infill dwellings which I feel would be better suited to an urban development than the conservation area at the centre of Cowfold village’.

The pub, in The Street, closed in late 2012 and has been boarded up ever since.

Earlier this year the Co-operative Group submitted a separate application to make minor internal and external alterations to the ground floor of the pub prior to opening a new food store.