Reject the plan for Rookwood
The task ahead of us is enormous.
Even though Britain has been changed dramatically through Brexit and now the coronavirus, we have been asked to make a housing plan suitable for the next 18 years and have been told to go ahead with it, based on previous circumstances.
We therefore need to make sure the plans are flexible enough to be able to adapt to our constantly changing world.
With this in mind, I would suggest that if we continue to measure success in financial terms and we presume that the population will continue to rise exponentially and that people will resume their long daily commutes rather than continuing to work remotely from home, then we will need to continue building at an unprecedented rate, despite many homes nationwide being sold then left empty as an investment. This would then become an opportunity for new towns and villages to be developed in an exemplary carbon neutral way.
Of the nine sites under consideration in our Local Plan, the sites at Henfield, Rusper and Buck Barn have the largest available areas, followed closely by Kingsfold, Adversane and Southwater; Billingshurst also offers two sites.
Each one of the 48 Horsham District councillors has their own reasons for voting for or against the nine proposals.
The smallest site by a long way, at Rookwood in Horsham, is in danger of being impacted by the cumulative effect of thousands of new north Horsham homes which are going ahead, along with a new incineration plant to take industrial waste from six counties. This, with the recently completed Kilnwood Vale and Highwood extensions is gradually changing Horsham’s character from ‘attractive small market town’ to that of ‘small city’.
The Buck Barn area in the centre of the district has little recent development apart from McDonalds at the A272 and A24 intersection. This would have a far greater potential for a new ecotown with rural economic opportunities built in.
Rookwood, which would be able to deliver only five per cent of the currently perceived need, is a critical natural green space for the wellbeing of visitors and the townspeople of Horsham; indeed, part of this site has been removed from its original designation of Warnham Local Nature Reserve. We are all seeing now how important it is for our physical and mental health that we can connect with nature and this is an area that all town residents can reach on foot or by bicycle.
In addition, it would help mitigate some of the effects of a new A24 road: noise and light pollution, climate change by improving the air quality, flood mitigation, carbon sinkage, and creating biodiversity.
The HDC policy, ‘priority is given to building on previously developed brownfield sites’, makes perfect sense when we consider sites such as the Novartis site in Horsham. However, this policy might also prioritise land such as the deer park at Petworth House (having been developed by Capability Brown) or Repton Park at Knepp Castle. Rookwood Golf Course is already halfway to becoming a country park as so many people are now enjoying walking there and enjoying the huge variety of animal, plant and bird species it supports. Indeed, because it has a diverse range of habitats from rough grassland, copses of trees, hedgerows, streams and a lake it is far more bio-diverse than many of the surrounding mono-culture ‘green field’ sites. I urge you all at this time to build flexibility into the Local Plan by rejecting the current proposal to build on Rookwood. MORAGWARRACK Hamilton Road, Horsham