LETTER: Death-knell to our historic town

As a Roffey resident I most strongly object to the proposed plan to concrete the remaining greenbelt in North Horsham. The creation of ‘new Crawsham’ would obviously mark the final death-knell of our Historic Market Town as we know it and nearby lovely villages. We would lose our separate identity, and how could we even keep the name ‘Horsham’?

There is no demand for such an industrial estate as is envisaged because Horsham is not appropriately located to be an industrial town. Also we would face a sudden population explosion with no significant new amenities offered apparently. The most reasonable course is to utilise existing viable industrial sites i.e. the many thousands of sq. ft. of unoccupied units locally and everywhere in the UK, even in prime locations. It is clear that this plan would not benefit the local economy and residents because no company has expressed any interest in moving any large operations to Horsham, due to it not being an industrial town amongst other reasons.

Would we want a vast industrial wasteland with no more rural area and green space? Would we want traffic congestion and increased pollution? Would we want disrupted train services, in particular for commuters? Would we want those underpasses and prostitution, drug dealers, youth gangs, and vagrants on our doorstep? Would we want the inevitable devaluation of our properties? Of course we would not.

I therefore urge those who vote on October 11 not to be taken in by false promise. Use your common sense and consider that all the arguments are strongly against this proposed plan.

Richard Cox

Earlswood Close, Horsham