‘Cuck-stye’ houses plan ruled out: parish council chair and action group react to cancelled proposal for 1,600 homes between Cuckfield and Ansty

MSDC leader Jonathan Ash-Edwards announced the news about the homes, which residents had dubbed ‘Cuck-stye’, in a letter to the Parish Councils.

Spokesmen from Ansty & Staplefield Parish Council and the Stop Cuck-syte Action Group have reacted positively to the news.

Brad Williams, chair of Ansty & Staplefield Parish Council, said: “We are pleased that the Leader of MSDC, Jonathan Ash-Edwards, has now confirmed that the Cuck-stye plan will not be in the Draft District Plan.

“More than 3,500 houses are currently being built in our parish and we made it very clear back in January that this plan was not sustainable. We already face frequent traffic nightmares and this plan would involve a decade of construction traffic gridlock followed by around 9,000 extra traffic movements every single day.

“The fact that MSDC now have a 15-year housing supply, with an additional buffer of 305 houses, proves conclusively that this development is not needed or supported.”

Simon Stokes, co-chair of the Stop Cuck-syte Action Group, said: “It’s definitely Round One to the Stop Cuck-sty Action Group, which has huge support across Ansty and Cuckfield, as shown by popularity of the packed Question Time event back in June.

“We are grateful to MSDC for finally delivering on their promise to drop this plan to concrete over the countryside.”

Both spokesmen expressed concern that the developer may try to bring the plan back.

But Brad Williams said: “I am confident the will of the local community will prevail.”

Simon Stokes said the Stop Cuck-syte Action Group would continue to oppose any plan for new houses between Cuckfield and Ansty.

He said: “The campaign will continue for as long as it takes, starting with a series of events in the coming months. The first of these will be a Community Site Walk on Sunday, October 30, starting from the Ansty Village Centre. People will see what is at stake and how much countryside we could lose.”