Horsham Society: A local voice for Horsham

Horsham Society has been a local voice for the last seventy years. Our purpose is to watch over the interests of the town, to guard its heritage and to promote good planning and design. With over 1,000 members we have an influential reputation and are one of the largest civic societies in South-East England.

Most importantly we have an independent, non-political, voice for Horsham’s residents.

We respond to numerous consultations on behalf of our members. This may involve meeting with planners, consultants and developers. Legal and General, at Mowbray, have sought our opinion on a number of occasions, and we have established an excellent working relationship with them.

The Capitol Theatre is now closed for refurbishment and Horsham Society has been working with Nick Jenkins, HDC, on the details of the refurbishment.

We proactively represent our members when decisions impacting our town and its surroundings are being decided. There have recently been three major consultations which all have serious implications for Horsham.

The first is the creation of a Town Council. In 1974 Horsham Diistrict Council was formed by amalgamating one Urban and two Rural councils. The three Neighbourhood Councils of Denne, Trafalgar and Forest were also created as there was no Parish Council to represent them. In 2021 Horsham Society members tasked our Executive to investigate the possibility of a Town Council for Horsham Town. In carrying out our investigations Horsham Society consulted with local councils, existing Sussex town councils, as well as Horsham District Council and West Sussex County Council. We concluded that a Town Council was the way forward. Four years later, following further consultations, a review of governance by HDC decided that a Town Council was in the best interests of our town, particularly considering the future creation of Unitary Authorities. We strongly support HDC’s decision.

Our second consultation has been over the Government’s intention of creating Unitary Local Government Authorities, placing Sussex in the first phase. Four proposals were submitted by: East Sussex County Council, Brighton and Hove City Council, West Sussex County Council, and by the combined District and Borough Councils of West Sussex. Horsham Society has studied the details of these submissions and has responded to each of the four proposals. We strongly support the proposal by the District and Borough Councils in West Sussex as we believe it is the best fit for Horsham.

The third major consultation was that of WSCC’s Horsham Transport Improvements. The intended aims are to improve and provide new active travel facilities, to keep traffic moving and minimise traffic delays. There are some creative suggestions for redesigning certain roads, but unfortunately there is no real suggestions as to how to improve traffic flow, in particular stopping the lengthy tailbacks on the Guildford Road. Cyclists and pedestrians are better catered for, but not motorists. Horsham Society has submitted comments and suggestions to help address these problems. It is now time to wait and see what happens next.

For more information see www.horshamsociety.org