Plans revealed for housing in grounds of Sussex village pub

Pub chain Stonegate is currently seeking planning permission from Horsham District Council to build four properties at the Shelley Arms in Broadbridge Heath.

It wants to build two semi-detached three-bedroom houses and two two-bedroom semis and reconfigure the pub car park. Access to the new houses would be from Weston Avenue just to the south of its junction with Gratwick End.

Stonegate says that the development is part of the company’s policy to realise the value of unused assets. In a statement to the council, it says: “The hospitality sector has been through a turbulent time since the Covid-19 pandemic, with the overall hospitality sector seeing the biggest economic decline of all sectors during the pandemic.”

And it adds: “A loyal and stable workforce emerged from the pandemic to face further challenges with the economic downturn, rising energy costs and interest rates.

“Today, Stonegate’s performance remains market leading which in turn has enabled continued investment in their people, pubs and bars and in continuing to create jobs across the UK.”

A similar previous application was turned down by the council because of concerns over ‘water neutrality’ – that the development would lead to an increase in water abstraction.

But Stonegate says its new proposals would mean the baseline water consumption would be zero because of a scheme to partner with an organisation known as ‘TheWaterBank’ which matches developers with existing property owners willing to offer their existing buildings for retrofits to achieve significant water reductions.