Crawley Center Parcs: All you need to know

The company has secured an option agreement to acquire 553-acres of privately owned woodland at Oldhouse Warren off Balcombe Road, Worth.

If planning permission is granted, the development is likely to take at least five years to complete.

Center Parcs says that the holiday village would include up to 900 lodges, a range of indoor and outdoor leisure facilities, a ‘subtropical dwimming paradise’, a variety of restaurants, shops and a spa.

The development is expected to cost between £350m and £400m and create around 1,500 permanent local jobs once operational - and a further 1,000 jobs during construction.

On first revealing the plans, Center Parcs’ chief executive Martin Dalby, said: “It is really exciting to have identified a potential site for another Center Parcs village in the UK.

“The proposal we will be submitting will create a significant number of jobs and bring major benefits to the local and national economy.”

However, there is some opposition to the proposals. Conservationists - including Sussex Wildlife Trust, the Woodland Trust, RSPB, CPRE and the Sussex Ornithological Society - are concerned that the holiday village would ‘tear the heart out’ of irreplaceable ancient woodland.

They are calling on Center Parcs to find an alternative site.

Crawley MP Henry Smith said the development would have a ‘significant impact’ on the area.

When plans were first revealed he said: “I’ve only seen the general Centre Parc’s proposal for Oldhouse Warren, the woods are in Mid Sussex District Council’s area and the constituency MP is Jeremy Quin, nevertheless it would have a significant impact on Crawley.

“This is a sensitive habitat and I believe this is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest so the local authority will likely not grant permission.”