 Road to be built through ancient woodland and popular bridleway on Kings Way, Burgess Hill
13th March 2016
by Peter Chapman
Ancient woodland and a popular bridleway is to have a road put through it after 64 more new homes on land east of Kings Way won approval on Thursday afternoon.
Tied 6 votes to 6, chairman Robert Salisbury had the casting vote at Mid Sussex District Council's District Planning committee meeting.
Cllr Salisbury decided that due to a lack of a 5-year land supply document, the benefits of the application outweighed 'the harm' of the access road and subsequently voted in favour of the application which is located on land east of Gerald Close, just off of Kings Way. (ref: DM/15/4379)
Had the District Plan been in place, the application could have been refused... an all-too-regular outcome in recent years.
This is the land where the 64 new homes will be built. 19 will be 'affordable' housing.
The view from the bridleway onto the land east of Gerald Close where 64 new homes have won approval.
The bridleway runs from Kings Way all the way through to the B2112 and is very popular with dog walkers, ramblers, cyclists and horse riders. It's also part of the Burgess Hill Green Circle Network.
Many letters of rejection had been sent in from local residents, along with representations from The British Horse Society and conservationist groups such as the Woodland Trust.
However, their efforts, along with the ward councillors speaking at the meeting - seeking to have an alternative route into the site (At the top of Cants Lane where it meets Kings Way) - were not enough to convince the majority of the committee to reject the application.
These newly approved 64 homes are in addition to the 480 that Sunleys/Charles Church already have approval for in the same area. The construction of the first 125 units of the development known as 'The Croft' is well underway.
| Spread the word! Ancient woodland and a popular bridleway is to have a road put right through it!
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 Got an opinion on this story? Leave a comment below.....
How do you feel about the decision to put a road through the popular bridleway, destroying some ancient woodland? Do you use this public right of way? Could there have been an alternative access road to the development?
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