Parish council to call public meeting over North Horsham development

Late last month Horsham District Council approved for consultation its new draft housing plan, which includes a scheme for 2,500 North Horsham homes, and a new 500,000 sq ft business park.

At a North Horsham Parish Council planning meeting last night (Thursday August 8) the chairman floated the idea of organising a public meeting, like the one it had organised when plans were afoot for a new football ground at the Holbrook Club in 2008.

Consultation opens next week for an eight-week period, and some councillors voiced a preference for a meeting, possibly at North Heath Hall, in September.

Ray Turner, chairman of NHPC’s planning committee, said: “It’s beholden on us to organise a public meeting so we can better inform ourselves of the public’s view.”

During the meeting Irina McDowell, of new residents campaign group Save Horsham, questioned HDC’s logic that a new business park was needed to balance their budget, as they would only be allowed to collect half the business rates for the first seven years.

She added: “This proposal is a work of fiction. Any benefit of this industrial estate is only a temporary brake for seven years.”

She continued: “Horsham is not an industrial hub. It will not, and never will be.”

Another member of the public questioned why a new business park was needed as a series of planning permissions for business space had been granted, but not built by developers around Horsham, including Broadlands Business Park in Langhurstwood Road.