How to help keep Rookwood green

Currently Chesworth Farm countryside site is following national trends: its welcoming buttercup-filled meadows are busier than usual with local people distantly exercising or simply relaxing by naturewatching.

Farm, locals and wildlife are thriving in a mutually beneficial relationship – echoed for now across the district as people seek out their nearest green spaces.

‘Thriving’ is an apt word, used by environmentalists and by social commentators to describe the therapeutic effect of nature on us.

A recent report confirming the benefits of parks and green spaces for individual people and communities by researchers in Sheffield is entitled ‘Space to thrive’.

However it is unlikely to surprise that as new housing demands put development pressure on our parks and wild places, fewer of us will have a green space within ten minutes’ walking distance of our homes. (Green Space Index 2020, Fields in Trust)

I am writing to encourage your readers to stand with groups like ours and highlight the fragility of the green resources in our district. And voice their concern about the inclusion of Rookwood Golf Course (W Horsham) in the draft development proposals outlined by Horsham District Council (HDC) in the Local Plan.

This proposal intends to build up to 1,100 homes there, together with a new road junction on Warnham Road.

By allocating whole or part of Rookwood for development, Horsham District Council will not only lose a much-valued amenity which could host a variety of leisure pursuits.

It will also impact wildlife by damaging the local green (land) and blue (water) corridors along which animals travel, forage and breed.

It will also disrupt wildlife at the reserve with light and noise pollution and make wildlife vulnerable to the increased number of domestic pets.

So what can readers do if they wish to flag up their opposition? For detailed information see the campaign website Keep Rookwood Green, www. keeprookwoodgreen.org

It asks you to write urgently to Horsham District councillors, especially the Cabinet members. This easy link will help find your councillors: www. writetothem.com.

Please also show your opposition by signing and sharing the local petition at Change.org titled ‘No to Rookwood golf course future development for housing’. https://www.change.org/p/ horsham-district-councilno-to-rookwood-golf-coursefuture-development-forhousing

If all our green sites thrive, there is more chance that we, and the generations that follow, will too. LAURA THOMAS Chairman Friends of Chesworth Farm