Mid Sussex residents rally as College Lane deadline nears

Residents of the Mid Sussex village, Hurstpierpoint, rallied in a show of opposition against Thakeham’s plan to build 100 homes on Site MM72 along College Lane (planning application DM/26/2433).

The site is on the edge of the village, within convenient reach of local facilities, bus services and Hassocks railway station.

Representing over 1,000 homes, the Keep Hurst A Village campaign and the College Lane Action Group organised the protest to deliver a clear message on how the lane and surrounding infrastructure simply cannot bear any housing additions.

Traffic and safety are a primary driving force behind the community's outrage. Campaigners revealed that Thakeham’s latest transport assessment forecasts a nearly 40 percent spike in morning traffic.

Furthermore, the campaigners say that the developer's travel plan heavily depends on an ambitious 10 percent reduction, or car-driver shift, without demonstrating how this behavioral shift would actually be achieved.

The reality on the ground already paints a grim picture. Residents are legion with stories of hours of traffic backlogs, stuck lorries, damaged cars, vehicular danger to pedestrians, and family pets who are frequently killed by the traffic on what is intended to be a small country lane.

With vehicles regularly clocking speeds of nearly 40 mph in the 30 mph zone, locals fear that adding 100 more homes will create an even more dangerous environment for pedestrians, cyclists, and schoolchildren.

"Adding any homes, let alone 100 homes, creates a highly dangerous environment for our pedestrians, cyclists, and schoolchildren," says Laura Galloway, a co-organiser of Keep Hurst A Village.

These infrastructure fears are further compounded by severe flooding, a reality starkly highlighted this past weekend when Storms Austen and Boelo battered Sussex.

"Every time it rains heavily Malthouse Lane floods where it crosses Herrings Stream alongside Hurstpierpoint College, and further north where it crosses Pookebourne Stream; every year cars are damaged or written off trying to get through the floods as it is a key access to the College and the main route for traffic from Burgess Hill to Hurstpierpoint," says local organiser Hugh Rathbone. "The plan to add 2,100 (DPSC1 and MM60) new homes between these streams will inevitably lead to significantly more traffic issues, damage to cars and is a safety concern."

With protests continuing over the village's already strained road network, formal objections to the College Lane application can be submitted to Mid Sussex District Council by Thursday, October 29.