LETTER: Use empty offices for new homes

After all you do not find a market town surrounded by houses and industrial estates. Our Strategic Gap between Horsham and Crawley is thoughtlessly being swallowed up by HDC and the developers and this is something we do not want to happen.

Instead of building an industrial and housing estate why not utilise all the existing empty shops for light industry/country craft centres or activity centres, (please no more coffee shops or restaurants) for the inhabitants of Horsham and the surrounding area.

Office blocks could be renovated into flats for our young people to buy therefore giving them a chance of a home. Admittedly Horsham has small areas of business parks and industrial estates but these are tucked away and are unobtrusive.

There are at present three housing estates in the process of being built within a couple of miles of us and the impact of these alone will bring pollution, traffic congestion, additional pressure on schools, public transport, water supply and National Health Services.

With all these thousands of people residing in Horsham how is East Surrey Hospital ever going to cope, bearing in mind that Gatwick airport is hoping to expand in the not too distant future?

With new house building in this area there is always inadequate parking facilities for residents some of whom have two cars or more which only adds to the traffic impact on roads.

The council and developers are only interested in MONEY MONEY MONEY and not the ENVIRONMENT or PEOPLE’S LIVES.

If this US company and HDC have their way, houses, lorries, traffic congestion will lead to chaos on our countryside roads.

SANDRA and ALAN NESTOR

Morrell Avenue, Horsham