Hassocks homes approved

Detailed designs and layout of 130 homes on the edge of Hassocks have been approved.

Despite a strong campaign, outline permission to build on fields east of London Road behind the Friars Oak pub was granted by Mid Sussex District Council in 2019.

Two previous applications were taken to appeal, with the first refused by a planning inspector and a second won by the developer.

A third application was approved by the council in July 2019. and a reserved matters application, setting out the detailed layout and design of the development, was approved by the council’s district planning committee on Thursday, March 17.

According to the Lib Dems ‘it has been clear that an estate on this site goes against the wishes of the local community’ with the village already having more than met realistic housing requirements leading to residents campaigning to protect ‘this valuable greenfield site’. They described how legitimate concerns were raised by the parish council over important aspects of the final plans.

Sue Hatton, one of three Lib Dem district councillors representing Hassocks, voted against the plans.

Speaking after the meeting, she said: “It is good news that a safe foot crossing under the railway, which we have campaigned for, has at last been built. But we are astonished that the developer has been allowed to avoid new government energy efficiency regulations because they do not come into effect until June.”

She said with other developments in the area, it would put local roads and services under ‘even more stress’.