Plans for 51 new homes in village

Planning officers are recommending that the go-ahead should be given for the new homes, despite objections from people living nearby.

Ian Tovey, chairman of a protest group called Protecthamfields, says that residents have been fighting proposals for development in the area for the past three years.

He said a previous application was refused on appeal on the grounds that it could cause a severe effect on the Air Quality Management Area at Stonepound Junction.

“It was also refused because the land at Ham Fields is considered the Local Gap between Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint,” he said.

He said he feared developers were rushing through their new application as Hassocks was close close to finalising its Neighbourhood Plan.

And, he added: “This Plan which has been created by the community of Hassocks, has already allocated where it wants its housing and the land at Hamfields has been allocated as Local Green Space, mainly because it sits outside the natural boundary of the village and it is already has a public footpath that runs through it.