LETTER: Disappointment at verdict on plan

I am sure that, like me, there are many, many people in the area who will have been bitterly disappointed at the news that Geoff Salter, the Government Inspector, found there was nothing ‘unsound’ about the district council’s plans for the huge development at North Horsham and that he has given that part of their District Planning Framework the go-ahead.

He was critical of other parts of the HDPF and has sent the council back to the drawing board to come up with amended proposals. He said he would like to see ‘full public consultation’ about modifications to the plan and perhaps this was an indication that he had not been totally happy with the extent of public consultation in the lead up to the existing plan.

With regard to the North Horsham development plan itself, there will be difficult times ahead. Horsham District Council must do everything in its power to make sure the American developers, Liberty Property Trust, provide the infrastructure necessary to ensure the new development does not blight the lives of all those existing residents living in the vicinity.

This is not going to be easy; after all, the council has agreed a NIL Community Infrastructure Levy on this development – in other words Liberty Property Trust can get away with paying nothing towards infrastructure costs in the wider local area.

With the £millions of profit they are going to make on this deal, I think the least they can do, just as a starter, is to cough up for improvements to, or realignment of, the dangerous stretch of A24 between Horsham and Capel.

With at least 2,500 new homes and a business park etc being built so close to this main route to London, major improvements are essential and it’s only right that Liberty should foot the bill.

SHEILA WHITE

Dorking Road, Warnham