Changes To Proposed Keymer Tiles Housing Development Causes Public OUTRAGE!

We have a classic situation of housing developer vs angry members of the public happening in Burgess Hill at the moment good reader, but it's not actually in dispute of the homes. Let me explain....

The Keymer Tiles site is being turned into a housing estate with 475 dwellings. It will be called the Kings Weald. Croudace Homes are the developer.


You can see more information on the development here: http://www.kingsweald.co.uk/

Outline planning permission had been granted for the development in 2010. This included the entry points and the construction phases. The formal application for design and layout of the homes on the plot had not yet been submitted.

Access to the site was to be from Kings Way, with secondary access via Wyvern Way and Curf Way. However, since outline planning permission was granted, Croudace have now decided to have Wyvern way as the main point of access into the development.

For those of you who aren't aware of this road, here is it.....



As you can see, it's extremely narrow , oh and it's a cul-de-sac!

Imagine the traffic issues down Cants Lane if this is approved as the main vehicular access route for the development.


This homeowners drive will disappear if the developer get their way. Word is that people who purchased homes on Wyvern Way were assured the road would always remain closed off.

There's also two children's parks on Wyvern Way....



Residents are very concerned for the safety of the children that use the playground. There's only one access point which will involve navigating the soon-to-be packed road with however many number of cars a 475 home development will bring.

Community Facilities
Then we come to the issue of community buildings. The Keymer Tiles site was to be developed in two phases. If understood correctly, community buildings were going to come in phase one, but because the developer now seeks to swap phases 1 and 2 around, it would be a number of years until the community see any benefits from this development.

All those new homes without as much as a local shop, communty hall, doctors surgery, and still no new school even with the other 450 home development near Folders Lane taking place!

Now also probably isn't the time to mention that the promised community infrastructure levy that would see Burgess Hill receive millions of pounds of bonus money to make improvements across the whole town isn't even in place yet, this is because MSDC have failed to get their district plan approved. Crodcace Homes will be laughing all the way to the bank.


Jumping the gun - The Croucade hoardings on Cants Lane proclaim the new homes are coming soon, yet they don't actually have permission.

What The Town Council Say
On Tuesday 26th August, it was standing room only as the public packed out the council 'chamber' for the planning committee meeting. Lots of local residents aired their concerns with the councillors fully in support of their objections to Croudace's plans. Burgess Hill Town Council's recommendation for a refusal of the application will be sent to Mid Sussex Council to take into consideration when the development is discussed at a future district planning committee meeting.

What Happens Next?
It's been thought that Croudace homes should be made to put in a whole new application as they've made changes from what was agreed in the outline plan. Croudace are using traffic survey data from 10 years ago when Wyvern Way and Curf Way didn't even exist! If Mid Sussex District Council allow the latest application to be considered, then it will be down to the public to do their best to make representations to the district planning committee by letter and in person in order to get the new access point proposals refused.

There's so much more to cover regarding this story but hopefully this is enough to bring you up to speed on the general issues.

There's a Keymer Tiles Works Residents Action Group that you can contact for further information: keymertiles.actiongroup@outlook.com or join their Facebook group here: http://bit.ly/kt-rag

To be continued....

Got an opinion on this story? Leave a comment below.....
What do you think to the developers plans to have the main access point to the development down a small residential road? Will Cants Lane be able to cope with hundreds of extra cars? Will MSDC actually bother to fight this as this development is not in Haywards Heath?