Is retail park necessary?

I read the article concerning the proposed retail park development in Broadbridge Heath and the response from Jeremy Hunt. It would be interesting to know who the council’s market research advisers were.

The council is going to open a DIY shop next to Homebase and a discount food store next to a very large Tesco and a garden centre 15 minutes’ walk from Newbridge, one of the best garden centres in the area (Homebase do garden stuff as well).

This also impacts upon Horsham town centre where we have two large supermarkets; Waitrose and Sainsbury’s right in the centre already. People park in their car parks and then visit the town centre shops before getting their groceries.

We also have a moderatesized Lidl close to the railway station. We have several DIY shops including Gardner & Scardifield (a Sussexbased business), Screwfix,

Toolstation, Brewers, Jewsons, Bryant fixings and this list is very long.

My understanding is that the favourite choice from the survey was for GP surgeries, which is not surprising as that is something we are very short of. As was reported in the County Times in 2019 Horsham has the second worst GP access in England with one GP per 2,997 patients. Only Swale in Kent is worse. The average in England is one per 1,734 patients.

I am sure that the council offered the site to the local CCG as, since the report, a lot more people have moved here but I haven’t noticed a lot more GPs. The second most popular choice was affordable housing, which also isn’t a surprise.

I sometimes wonder if the people making these decisions at district and county level actually live in or near Horsham. Judging by the decisions from them I think they probably need a map to know where it is let alone what is in it.

GERARD KAVANAGH

North Parade, Horsham