Approval of 191 more houses in Henfield a ‘terrible decision’, says MP

The developers, Croudace, appealed the council’s refusal to grant planning permission in May last year based on the Horsham District Council’s failure to have a Local Plan in place.

Croudace were unashamed in acknowledging that this greenfield development is located outside of the Henfield built-up boundary area and erodes the village’s green borders.

Councillor Josh Potts (Henfield) was the only ward district councillor to speak out against the damaging proposals at the inspector’s Hearing in Horsham last month.

Steve Bailey from the Campaign to Protect Rural Henfield (CPRH) and Henfield Parish Council also spoke out against the plans.

The council had received 100 objections, including from the MP and CPRH. Objections made included challenging the location, concerns about traffic access onto London Road, the creaking infrastructure of Henfield which has taken more than its fair share of development over the last 10 years, loss of green boundary of the village and the loss of farmable land.

Andrew Griffith said: “This is a terrible decision for Henfield, but the village has been left wide-open to speculative development because Horsham District Council has failed to bring forward a sound Local Plan to deliver the policies needed to protect villages like Henfield, Ashington, Steyning, and Upper Beeding.

“It is a challenging time for planning, but most other councils manage to do a better job.

“It flies in the face of local democratic planning work which seeks to deliver sustainable housing through a neighbourhood plan.

“Failure to deliver a Local Plan has left communities unshielded and made Horsham District the number one target for developers in the South East.”

A Horsham District Council spokesperson said: “Horsham District Council is well progressed with the preparation of a new local plan, and the plan has been undergoing independent examination since July 2024. The examination of the plan has however experienced significant delays for reasons beyond the Council’s control. A particular driver for the delay was the requirement for all the development (including the local plan) to demonstrate water neutrality. This requirement was not removed until October 2025.

“Between September 2021 and October 2025 water neutrality restrictions significantly reduced the level of development that could be permitted. This meant that the Council cannot demonstrate that it can meet government housing targets, which have not been adjusted by government to take into account the impact of water neutrality.

“Therefore, until a local plan is in place, the Council is at risk from speculative development. It should also be noted that the Local Plan Inspector has outlined that the Council must find significant new land for housing in addition to sites already within the submitted plan. This will mean further allocations for development in locations across the District.”