Private meetings organised by council to discuss North Horsham development

Developer Liberty are bringing approximately 2,500 homes to North Horsham held a housing exhibition in the town centre.

The first ‘Land North of Horsham Reference Group’ meeting, hosted by Horsham District Council, was held on Thursday April 23 to discuss the details for controversial plans for 2,500 homes and a new business park north of the A264.

Although representatives from parish councils and Horsham district councillors will be able to ask developer Liberty Property Trust questions the meetings are in private and no formal minutes will be made available.

A spokesperson at Horsham District Council said: “The council is committed to ensuring the North Horsham development delivers a high quality scheme that maximises opportunities for the local community and addresses any issues and concerns.

“The reference group is a proactive opportunity for the council and developer to engage with local community groups and the first meeting was to discuss how this would best be achieved and for the developer to update community representatives on the latest proposals.

“The meeting had representatives of the two local parish councils, the community partnership, and local councillors in attendance.

“Future meetings will focus on specific topic areas and additional relevant people will be invited to participate.

“The meetings are intended to be focused and include community representatives but are not an open invite to the public and there will not be formal minutes available.

“There will be other opportunities for the public to be involved and the council is keen to hear suggestions from the public at any time.”

This follows a row in 2013 when new HDC cabinet member with responsibility for planning Claire Vickers decided to hold HDC’s Strategic Planning Advisory Group meetings in private.

More than 900 people attended a two-day exhibition to view Liberty’s plans for North Horsham in Horsham town centre last month.

The North Horsham strategic site is currently included in HDC’s planning framework, which was scrutinised by the planning inspector in November.

Examination hearings on the plan are expected to reconvene in the summer after the inspector told HDC to up its housing target from 13,000 homes to 15,000 up to 2031.

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