Obsessed with development

I read with concern the recent letters from council officials and cabinet members in this column. I have the impression that our council are asserting their usual ‘we know best’ attitude.

This week I see that the council now threatens to close more popular public assets. If it is useful or valued, it is for disposal. It sounds like a disaster movie from HDC Studios.

Our council’s much trumpeted financial prudence has brought us to this mess and these gloomy predictions. The danger for the council by overplaying the impending doom card, is that one asks: how has the current leadership let it come to this?

Please do not say Covid, because this is about core philosophies not finances, and about what services a good local authority should provide to the district.

But are these dire warnings true? Who should we believe? An entrenched administration with an entrenched plan or individuals who are passionately concerned about the future of our town and of our planet for future generations? Let me think who I would trust…

The question is of trust, because there has been a breakdown of trust between residents and Horsham District Council. All this consultation on Rookwood has been forced on the council by public pressure.

Remember this same council tried to slip this site into the Local Plan last year, hoping no one would notice until it was too late.

This is a scheme on which the council has spent £200k, without scrutiny. I can see why the finances might be in shreds.

The construction of the golf course in 1992 was financed by the sale of land for Rookwood Park housing. What has happened to the income? Clearly not prudently managed for the future.

More recently the golf course brings an annual income to the council of around £100k in rent and council tax, with no outgoings since the club is responsible for maintenance.

Does anyone trust that our council is acting fairly to the benefit of Horsham? The cabinet member for the town has abdicated at this difficult time. The council is obsessed with developing any land it owns in Horsham town, especially those it deems are ‘underperforming assets’. This depends on what ‘underperforming’ means because the council counts the value of green space and wildlife as zero.

Consider the benefits to health, wildlife and amenity value of keeping Rookwood

as green space to judge the real value of the land, then the arguments that the land should be kept as green space in perpetuity are convincing.

Now the council state that the new access road to Rookwood across the Redford Avenue football field is not needed. Should we trust them? Because if West Sussex say the access is needed, then goodbye football and hello to an embankment blocking the Riverside Walk.

Indeed, the council will say anything at this stage to get it through, but everything can so easily be changed at planning stage. ‘It was only an idea’ they will say.

Would you trust Horsham District Council with your family silver?

PHILIPAYERST Comptons Lane Horsham

Two headlines in last week’s paper, ‘Homes plan for running track’ and ‘Drill Hall back on the agenda’ were timely reminders of just how out of touch the Conservatives running Horsham District council are with the views of the residents of Horsham.

For many years the Tories have ignored the views of local people and sold off our ‘community silver’, undermining the social fabric of our community.

There has often been a pattern to this cultural and recreational vandalism, with claims of under-use, falling revenues and the latest claim that significant investment is needed to maintain these assets, although they fail to mention that the latter arises from persistent failure on their part to invest.

To add insult to injury, as far as the latest plans to take away community facilities are concerned, the council claims that these sites can provide an income as they plan to build ‘affordable’ housing in their place.

If the council had granted planning permission in line with their own district plan over the last ten years, the required number of affordable homes would already been delivered.

But no, the council time and time again granted planning permissions to developers with affordable housing percentages far below the requirement of our local communities. As a result demand for affordable housing remains high.

Over recent years Horsham residents have called for:

The retention of the running track and all of the facilities that were available at the Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre, for community use; the retention of the Old Town Hall, for community use; the retention of the Drill Hall, for community use; the retention of the Rockwood Golf Course, for community use;and more genuinely affordable housing to meet the communities needs.

All these calls from the community have been ignored which leads to the question, if the Tories running the council are not serving the interests of the community who elects them, whose interest are they serving?

DAVIDHIDE Secretary Horsham Labour Party Clarence Road, Horsham