Town has built itself into corner

Regarding the report ‘Homes plan for B&W site’, page 5, South Downs edition of May 7.

Another proposal to develop an inner town, brownfield site has been put forward and debated by the council.

On the face of it an opportunity to develop here rather than on a greenfield site is to be welcomed. There are downsides however.

I must immediately declare an interest as the landowner of Sweetland which has been put forward as a potential greenfield development site but I am genuinely not writing to promote this site in favour of any other options that may exist.

Firstly the B&W site could only accommodate a fraction of the perceived housing need in Steyning. Therefore it should be viewed as an opportunistic application.

I moved to Steyning in 1978 as relatives were already here. We approached Humphreys estate agent and a fresh-faced youth (Stuart Osborn) attended to us.

Only one property fell into our price range: no.6 Elm Terrace, £16,500. Done.

Opposite, building work was in progress on a new building for a hi-fi company. Behind our property the electricity board had a large compound where many maintenance vehicles parked and they had a retail showroom on the High Street (Bunces as was).

To repair and refurbish our modest new home we would visit Rodney Goldsmith’s business Steyning Homecraft on the corner of Tanyard Lane for our DIY needs. That site is now housing.

Ken Johnstone used to supply us with our domestic white goods from the High Street and warehouse in Tanyard Lane.

There is a theme. Without the sensible and sympathetic expansion of the town on greenfield sites the town has built itself into a corner so that we have no space to provide the facilities that we need.

The recent events show that we need to be more selfreliant.

Other towns seem to manage abetter balance than we have currently.

I work in farming and love the countryside. I can assure you there is plenty out there which many communities could only dream of.

Within our town we need to maintain sites for commercial use.

Sussex Produce site could accommodate housing but what a boon to the town that business has been over recent years.

As a landowner I definitely have qualms about the prospect of my land being built on and if a neighbour to that it would be worse, I acknowledge.

However, with a slightly new perspective on our parish council, I hope the Steyning community can move forward and make the right decisions to ensure we remain a great place to live.

ROB MATTINSON

Newham Lane, Steyning