Arundel and South Downs MP, Andrew Griffith, has expressed his dismay that Horsham District Council have given planning consent to a development of an 82-unit extra-care retirement community at Sandgate Nursery in Henfield.
At last night’s Planning Committee in Horsham District Council (Tuesday 3rd February ), a vote of 7 votes to 4 went in favour of accepting the plans from Sandgate Henfield Developments Ltd.
The Henfield ward district councillors, Henfield Parish Council, and Campaign for Protection of Rural Henfield (CPRH) were amongst the speakers who argued against the development, sharing their local knowledge and expressing the unsuitability of the location of the site.
Andrew Griffith has been supporting local residents who are against any building on Sandgate Nursery. He wrote to the Leader of Horsham District Council ahead of the planning committee meeting and warned that if planning permission was granted it would shake “confidence in the planning system as a whole.” He pointed to the made Henfield Neighbourhood Plan which sets the local planning policies for the village.
The location of Sandgate Nursery is outside of the built-up planning area boundary and is a site which has been refused for development several times before. The site sits a mile away from local shops and services which is difficult for older people to access by foot. It was also pointed out that the type of housing proposed, mainly comprising of 2 and 3 bedroom 2-storey homes with private gardens and bicycle storage, is wholly unsuitable for those needing support in retirement. Henfield already has 5 well-located retirement communities, and 2 care homes.
Officers asserted that the location was judged acceptable because it is opposite the Byshopps Park development, a housing estate which was forced through by developers on Appeal despite significant local objection at that time. Officers and the planning committee have proposed a minor amendment that the operator of the site – which is not yet confirmed – must run a minibus service for residents on the new development.
Andrew Griffith MP said:
“This is yet another unsustainable and unwanted development imposed on Henfield and raises significant concerns for the future of local planning. Henfield is being circled by speculative developers who are also looking to ignore neighbourhood plans and settlement boundaries. I am greatly worried that Horsham District Council has set an alarming precedent here and will no longer be able to justify refusals on other applications.
“I will continue to stand alongside residents, and the Campaign for Rural Henfield, to keep up the fight to protect their village from over-development.”
