Plans to demolish Pulborough church and build homes are refused

The application to pull down St Crispin’s Church – which closed in October 2019 – was given the thumbs-down by the planning committee on Tuesday (May 24).

Water neutrality, overdevelopment and the design of the houses were given as grounds for refusal.

Speaking about the design, Paul Clarke (Con, Pulborough, Coldwaltham & Amberley) said the appearance of the homes fronting on to Church Place was ‘not really in keeping with the local character’.

As for the rear view, he described part of it as ‘a carbuncle’, ‘jarring’ and ‘unacceptable’.

His views were shared by Diana van der Klugt (Con, Pulborough, Coldwaltham & Amberley), who also suggested that fewer homes on the site would be more acceptable.

She said: “It is overdevelopment and it would be better from a design point of view for [some of] those houses not to be there and to be more green infrastructure left on the site.”

Mr Clarke added that the site was used for parking by residents and to lose it would ‘increase local misery’.

This, though, was not seen to be relevant, especially as the site was private land.

The council received 58 letters of objection from the public, with concerns raised including overdevelopment, the loss of a community asset and harm to the character of the Conservation Area.

Eleven letters supporting the application cited reasons such as the need for more housing and that the proposals were well-designed and would actually enhance the Conservation Area.

The applicant told the committee that a ‘viable solution’ regarding water neutrality was ‘within touching distance’ – namely installing water efficiency measures at St Gabriel’s Church, in Billingshurst.

He asked for the plans to be deferred so that work on the solution could be concluded.

But the application was refused by nine votes to seven.

Officers had recommended refusal on the lack of information about achieving water neutrality, but had considered the proposal to be ‘well designed’ and would ‘appear in context and in sympathy’ with the conservation area.

To view the plans, log on to public-access.horsham.gov.uk and search for DC/21/1815.