Will councils support public?

You know your local councils are not listening to their public when...

Page 3 of last week’s County Times reported that West Sussex County Council has not found anyone to take on the Novartis development even now, and the other is the sound of a backdoor opening around redevelopment of the Robin Hood roundabout which would impact on proposed housing on Rookwood Golf Course.

The controversial proposal to put houses on the green west wing of Horsham and effectively cull the nature on Warnham Nature Reserve is still in its so-called consultation stage, but WSCC is going ahead with widening and introducing traffic lights on the A24 Robin Hood Roundabout.

Future improvements to the Great Daux roundabout will ‘take into account the timing of future developer contributions... and other potential major developments coming forward’.

The 1,100 homes planned for Rookwood Golf Course runs on land adjacent to both roundabouts.

In a 25 mile stretch of the A24 with no traffic lights, between strategic east-west junctions at Dorking (A25) and Bucks Barn (A272), WSCC feel the need for the junction with a local road B2273 Horsham to Warnham to be turned into Bucks Barn MkII or even Tushmore Gyratory. Don’t our councils require to justify why we need this?

The roundabout works tolerably well and any minor delay in joining or exiting the roundabout is likely to be far less than that encountered when inching round a much-widened roundabout with motorway lights at all quarters.

Has WSCC used out of date, or doubtful, predictions to suggest that traffic will continue to grow, without considering the possible traffic changes post-Covid?

Having queues at traffic lights one way when it is clear the other way will just add to delay and traffic pollution.

The main point is that public consultation in this part of the world is a sham.

The unsuitability of the Novartis proposal was a valid argument but one that was lost nevertheless, and now WSCC can apparently rely on developers to fund works which are still out to consultation.

If we are going to have meaningful consultation we need at least one of our councils to be willing to support the local inhabitants of Horsham.