Broadbridge Heath retirement community plans turned down

The decision to turn down the application for Wellcross Farm came one month after the planning committee rejected similar plans for nearby Lyons Road.

During a meeting on Tuesday (August 4), Tricia Youtan (Con, Itchingfield, Slinfold &Warnham) said many of the objections raised for the Lyons Road plan also applied to this one.

Access to the site, flooding and the somewhat isolated location of the development were among her list of concerns, as was the fact the site had been deemed unsuitable for development in 2015.

Mrs Youtan also pointed out that a nearby pumping station, run by Southern Water, gave out a ‘well-documented unpleasant smell which has been reported many, many times over the years’.

Stuart Garnett, of Inspire Villages, said 20 per cent of the homes would be affordable ‘with priority given to those with a local connection’.

But members took issue with the £5,000-per-year service charge, which would be applied to every home on the development – including those classed as affordable.

Matthew Allen (Lib Dem, Broadbridge Heath) said: “That does not make it affordable and it’s quite frankly insulting to suggest that it does.”

The council received 34 objections from 22 separate addresses as well as from Slinfold Aerodrome, the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Itchingfield, Broadbridge Heath and Slinfold parish councils.

While the officers recommended the plans be approved, members disagreed.

They refused it on the grounds that it was not in an appropriate location, it would have a significant impact on the countryside and that no S106 legal agreement was in place to ensure the developer provided money for things such as affordable housing and highways improvements.

Karen Dunn , Local Democracy Reporting Service