Burgess Hill Set To Lose Out On Tens Of Millions Of Pounds Through New Housing Developments
12th November 2014
by Peter Chapman

Developers planning 3,500 homes for the Northern Arc' in Burgess Hill are set to deny the town tens of millions of pounds due to the council's failure to have the District Plan in place

When Burgess Hill councillors controversially put their hands up to take 6,000 of Mid Sussex's 10,000 home requirement for the next 20 years, it was done so with the understanding that it would generate an extra £40 million in developer contributions to be spent anywhere in town. However, it's all about to go wrong.......

No District Plan = No Bonus Money
Last year, the MSDC 'District Plan' was rejected by the government's inspector as the council were found to have failed to consult with neighbouring districts about their unmet housing needs. With no district plan in place, the Community Infrastructure Levy 'CIL' cannot be envoked.

The District Council's document about the Community Infrastructure Levy says:
From April 2014 , S106 obligations cannot effectively pool infrastructure contributions and CIL will be the only mechanism for delivering off-site community infrastructure from developer contributions. Section 106 obligations can still be used to deliver affordable housing and certain site-specific infrastructure needs and mitigation measures
Source: http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/media/DCS_July2013_website_coverandtext.pdf

In other words ladies and gentleman, the council will have no way of funding the promised Arts and Entertainment Centre to replace the Martlets Hall.



Public Consultation Begins On Thursday
From Thursday 13th - Saturday 15th, representatives from Gleeson Strategic Land and Rydon Homes will be holding a consultation at the Market Place shopping centre from 10am - 4pm.

It'll be your chance to quiz the developers on what they have planned for the Northern Arc. Maybe you can also ask them how Burgess Hill will be able to find the millions of pounds to build a replacement for the Martlets Hall since they'll be avoiding the CIL payments.