‘Vampire flats’ at former Horsham council offices refused

Developers already have prior approval to turn the Park North and North Point buildings in North Street into 65 apartments, but their bid to infill the existing access and undercroft to create seven new residential units were turned down by HDC.

Members of the council’s Development Control North Committee raised concerns about the amount of parking available and the principle of building new homes in undercrofts, where residents would have little natural light.

David Skipp (LDem, Horsham Park), leader of the Lib Dem group, felt that proposals would put ‘more and more strain on the area’, and with only one parking space per flat it made proposals ‘difficult to swallow’.

He argued that a policy of putting flats next to plant machinery in an undercroft was not something the ‘council would wish to endorse’.

Meanwhile Christine Costin (LDem, Trafalgar) added: “I can’t approve of these dark and dingy vampire flats. I really think that’s wrong for the town and parking is a serious concern.”

Peter Burgess (Con, Holbrook West) added: “The local roads close by are already crowded and 70 spaces is simply not enough. We can’t allow this.”

Officers explained that although there are 110 parking spaces currently, the building was seen as being in a sustainable travel location so close to the town centre.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be among the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make our website your homepage at www.wscountytimes.co.uk

2 Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/wscountytimes

3 Follow us on Twitter @wscountytimes

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

The County Times – always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.