At last week’s full council meeting, Crawley Borough Council unanimously agreed to oppose recent proposals by Center Parcs for a holiday resort at Oldhouse Warren.  Instinctively, I am against anything that proposes to destroy ancient woodland and the sheer scale of what is proposed.

Even then, I still can’t understand personally how any company or developer could think that a planning application of this nature could be successfully obtained.  Particularly somewhere as beautiful as Worth Forest.

The Oldhouse Warren site is one of the most extensive areas designated as Ancient Woodland in Mid Sussex, retaining full ancient woodland protection.

It is virtually impossible to compensate for the loss of ancient woodland – partly in ecological terms and also partly in historic, geographic and physical terms

There would have to be “exceptional” planning reasons as well to justify building on ancient woodland, and this would not apply to a Center Parcs leisure proposal, with the greatest possible respect to them.

I would personally like to see Worth Forest become more like a people’s forest, like Epping Forest has been for a very long time.  Too much of it is shut off currently and it is my view that the public should have a universal right to roam across all our countryside, which was something in past Labour manifestos that I have always wholeheartedly supported.

The site also has much intrinsic value as open countryside on the edge of Crawley’s built-up area, an aspect increasingly being eroded.

The development activities of some of the surrounding Tory-run councils are capitalising on Crawley’s economic prowess.  They seek to congregate around the sidelines to live off the success of our town and what we have made it. But what do they expect us to do?  We have our own needs to provide for our existing demands, yet here we see the other councils seem to be allowing developments directly on our borders at the West of Ifield, Kilnwood Vale, Pease Pottage, Copthorne – and now, Oldhouse Warren.  I must confess I am getting quite weary of it.

Cllr Michael Jones

Leader, Crawley Borough Council