Battle looms over proposals for houses on former West Sussex village pub site

A planning application to build the houses with garages at the site of the now-demolished Royal Oak pub in Rusper was turned down last September by Horsham District Council. But now an appeal has been lodged against the council’s decision.

Two semi-detached houses with garages were built on the site of the pub in Friday Street after planning permission was granted for the pub’s demolition. But Horsham District Council rejected proposals for two more houses to be built on the pub car park.

It said the car park was in the countryside, outside of any defined built-up area boundary, on a site not allocated for development within the Horsham District Planning Framework or the Rusper Neighbourhood Plan.

It maintained the development would be ‘contrary to the overarching strategy and hierarchy approach of concentrating development within the main settlements and is not essential to its countryside location.’

And, the council said the proposed houses would erode the character and setting of nearby listed buildings and ‘would result in significant and demonstrable harm to the countryside setting.’

A number of local residents also objected to extra housing in the area and said it would amount to an ‘overdevelopment’ of the village and would cause additional traffic problems.

But NJA Town Planning, agents for the applicant Mr D Bell, say that the council’s policies over the proposed development are out of date and should be considered to hold less weight in the decision making process.

It said in a statement: “The proposed dwellings are of a very high quality design and of an appropriate height, scale and mass to ensure that they will not appear as an unduly prominent feature within the countryside landscape.

"As a result, and given the existing boundary screening and context of the site’s surroundings as described, the proposed dwellings will not result in any harm to the visual amenities of the countryside.”

It added: “The site is of more than sufficient size to accommodate two semi-detached dwellings as proposed and ample space will be retained to the site boundaries, including a set back from Friday Street.

"The proposal will not result in any overdevelopment of the site and the scale and form of the proposed

dwellings will not cause any harmful suburban influence.”

The matter is now to be decided by a planning inspector.