Rookwood has it all - if untouched

Horsham District Council’s left hand obviously does not know what its right hand is doing!

At the end of 2020 it launched a new initiative, ‘Wilder Horsham District’, a five year partnership between the Council and Sussex Wildlife Trust. Its aims include: 1. Helping wildlife across Horsham District

2. Creating networks of land that are protected and enhanced for wildlife

3. To increase the awareness of actions that communities can take to improve their natural environment

4. To maximise the opportunities that protecting and enhancing wildlife brings for climate change mitigation and adaptation

Well, the council has already blown it on the first two - just take a look at the destruction of trees around the Robin Hood and Rusper Road roundabouts, let alone the prospect of over 2,700 homes going up north of

Horsham alone.

The network of land that is Rookwood provides everything the council could wish for, if left untouched. It provides a wildlife corridor, protects and enhances the wildlife there and at the adjacent nature reserve. The huge growth in housing, especially in north Horsham will surely increase the usage of the golf course, thereby increasing income for the council.

The council’s revised plan for the northern section of Rookwood includes a percentage of housing together with increased pathways to encourage more cycling and walking (with dogs?), and to provide an opportunity for increased ease of access for the public. Really? on an extension of Warnham Nature Reserve?

Let us hope that the council will see the sense in leaving this patch of land well alone for all our sakes and that of the wildlife. BERYL DOLD Rowlands Road

Horsham