LETTER: Outrageous bid for concrete jungle

Local residents are writing to protest the plan to destroy the greenfields on the north side of the A264 at Horsham with an industrial park of 500,000 sq ft (an area apparently equivalent to four huge football pitches and their car parks), by building there a pointless supermarket and up to 4,500 soulless, generic houses.

This lonely suburb, which is to shelter up to 20,000 new residents (based on most homes housing a family with two children), in addition to about 30,000 but possibly many more new residents about to move into 7,000 new houses in progress next to the A24, is to have no new parks, swimming pools, leisure centres, doctors’ surgeries, nurseries, primary schools, playgrounds, or, in fact, nothing at all obviously needed by people and families (this simply would not fit either the available space or the US investor’s desired spend).

The amount of cars in the Horsham areas will shortly produce unprecedented levels of environmental pollution, noise, traffic congestion, parking problems and more, due to 7,000 new homes already in progress next to the A24.

However, our councillors are not listening. Horsham has obvious surplus of industrial, office and commercial space already, but it is being stated by our council that our town can rent out another 500,000 sq ft. This proposed concrete jungle of industrial units, which are too remote for Gatwick, and barely accessible via the already congested A264 (which has not even felt yet all the traffic from the new builds across from Colgate/Faygate), will not bring any benefit to local residents, but it will certainly destroy our remaining greenbelt and endanger the nearby Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and their protected habitats.

The scheme is ill-considered, foolish, and dangerous and will change our town, our amenities, our quality of life, and our transport links beyond usability.

As this outrageous proposal has made it to consultation stage within the local council, and could be approved in about eight weeks, we suggest to residents to urgently complain to their local councillors, whose details can be found here: http://www.horsham.gov.uk/1632.aspx

VERONIKA BARNES (Mrs)

Leith View Road, Horsham