In photos – protestors at Plumpton Racecourse urge residents not to attend consultation on 3,000 homes

The demonstration, which was organised by Don’t Urbanise the Downs (DUTD), took place on the morning of Saturday, September 5.

Campaigners held the event to urge people not to attend a consultation day on the proposed homes, calling this a ‘public consultation exercise’ held by ‘Eton’s development division’s PR Agency’.

The protest followed the North Barnes Farm team’s recent announcement of an eight-week public consultation until October 16, where residents can submit their views on proposals for up to 3,000 new homes between South Chailey and Plumpton Green.

DUTD lead Steve Needham said: “We had a very successful day on Saturday. We started assembling at the entrance to Plumpton Racecourse at 10am and we were around 200-strong by 11am, with people travelling to attend from all over Sussex and beyond, including one lady from Devon. All ages were represented from school-age children to pensioners. One of our members led the group in song.”

Before the protest, Steve had called the consultation day at the racecourse ‘a tick-box exercise’. He said this would not address the concerns of DUTD, which include fears about a lack of infrastructure, an increase in traffic pollution and the loss of habitat for wildlife.

The North Barnes scheme – which campaigners say will ‘engulf’ Plumpton Green, East Chiltington and South Chailey – proposes creating a primary school, nursery, healthcare facilities and parkland, as well as the new homes. The team behind it includes Welbeck Land and the landowner Eton College, with the partnership being supported by ADAM Architecture and ECE Planning. The team has described its project as an ‘infrastructure-led development’ while the North Barnes website has said the proposed development ‘is being brought forward by a partnership with vision and conscience’. The website also said the plan is about ‘creating lasting social, economic and environmental benefit for the widest group of people’ and added that North Barnes ‘is conceived as a complete and sustainable community’.

Don’t Urbanise the Downs has been against a proposed new town in the area since 2021 after Eton College announced previous plans for 3,000 houses on rural downland at East Chiltington. The North Barnes Farm site was later excluded from a draft of the Lewes Local Plan in 2023.

Steve said Saturday’s protest ‘will have sent a clear message’ to Eton College and their partners that their plans are ‘not welcome’.

He added that protestors were joined by Lewes MP James MacCleary and East Sussex County Councillor Sarah Osborne (Ouse Valley West and Downs division).

Mr MacCleary, who had also spoken about the proposed homes on Good Morning Britain on Saturday, said on Facebook: “The plans could see more than 3,000 homes built on 455 acres of land just north of the South Downs National Park, in an area that doesn’t even have a B road currently. I’m not against building new homes, we desperately need them. But they need to be in the right place, with the infrastructure to support them.

“Residents have raised serious concerns about water supply, sewage, flooding, roads and transport. These are issues that simply cannot be brushed aside. We need homes, but we also need to make sure new development works for the communities who already live here and our natural environment.”

Alistair Watson, chief executive of Welbeck Land, has previously addressed concerns about the size of the development by saying that ‘concentrating new homes and infrastructure in a single location is the best way to meet the area’s needs’.

The North Barnes partnership is encouraging residents to get involved in its consultation and have their say at www.NorthBarnes.co.uk.