This week  (9th January 2023) Conservatives at Horsham District Council took the decision not to take a decision to agree their local plan until after the May elections. Their Leader has resigned (3^rd in recent times) but they claim  they need time to consider Michael Gove’s statement on housing – in reality, it is perhaps political dynamite.

So why is this so important for Crawley?

Well within that local plan is an agreement to develop Horsham land to the west of Ifield. To place initially 3,000 and ultimately 10,000 new homes right up to our borders in Crawley.

That move – about which not a single Crawley resident will have a say – would effectively see our town increase in size by close to 25%. Yet government Housing Accelerator Homes England have barely consulted beyond Ifield.

But this is not the only development Tory neighbours wish to place right up to our borders. Mid Sussex have already built 600 new homes at Pease Pottage, and plan a further 2,300 at Old Hollow between us and Copthorne as well as replacing 553 acres of beautiful woodland south of Maidenbower with a Centre Parcs. Horsham have already allocated 2,500 homes south of Bewbush at Kilnwood Vale.

Crawley gets no council tax from these properties, we have no right to house our homeless there and, though we do what we can to try and influence things, we have no seat at the table.

They are literally encircling our town and they are not even asking

Crawley celebrated its 75^th birthday in 2022. Its success is a result of excellent post war planning. Providing good and sufficient infrastructure (roads, schools, health services, shops etc…) were absolutely key to that success. Placing 25% more homes – Crawley currently has 45,000 homes – right up to our borders with minimal consultation and inadequate planning will change the nature of Crawley forever – and we will have no say.

Our success is being put at risk by Tory NIMBYism – neighbouring authorities choosing to keep their backyards clear by placing massive developments right up to our borders.

Apart from the coastal towns, Crawley is already the most densely developed part of West Sussex. We rely on cross border land for countryside access. That’s how our town was planned. That was our green belt.

Other West Sussex districts are huge in comparison, so why do they feel it’s acceptable to encircle our town with their developments?

So I welcome Horsham’s delay – but we need to take it further, it should not be their decision because it will barely impact their towns, their services, their roads or their residents.

Enough is enough.

This is Our Town we want Our Say