SIDNEY WEST

Two of our local papers make this their lead item: the Middy and the Leader. Hidden away in last week's copy of the Middy was a planning application from the council to redevelop the Sidney West recreation ground.

Unfortunately the council was rushed into a PR exercise when somebody actually read it. Now we have the headlines "A Huge Boost For Health And Sport" and "It's Just What The Doctors Ordered", which must have come straight out of MSDC's spin department.

The council wishes to relocate Park View surgery on the site. Ann Duke of Petworth Drive writes to the Middy telling us she has spoken to Councillor Gill Balsdon (of getting Burgess Hill Football Club fined for playing football fame) who assured her that the surgery would take only a small space near the entrance.

I believe in what she said; just as I still believe in faeries. Reading the small print, we see that the surgery will be on two floors, taking 1800m² of floor space and with "room for further expansion."

So the council wants to realize the value of its assets. How much will the NHS pay them to keep them in the lifestyle they feel that they so richly deserve? That they say that erecting a new cricket hut is "likely", is only to keep within letter of the covenant Sidney West bequeathed his land to the people of Burgess Hill, if not its spirit. It was left for sporting pursuits.

The council will, I'm sure, come back with claims of a dire need for a new surgery, yet there are three very strong arguments against Sidney West's redevelopment. The first: is that the council clearly intend the eventual total redevelopment of one of the few green patches of land close to the centre of Burgess Hill. The second: is that the residents, who live on an incline, will now have people peering into their houses from this two-storey building. Remember, the council have just refused 3-year planning permission for a tree house on privacy grounds. And the third is: who in their right mind would erect a busy surgery on Leylands Road, one of the most congested roads in Burgess Hill?

MIDDY

New flats for Junction Road?
We read that neighbours are protesting over the building of flats in Junction Road. They argue that you should not build on such a busy thoroughfare. Guess who supports them? Yes, Burgess Hill Town Council.

It is Dennis Broom (hero of this parish) writing in the letters, who questions whether the council's argument that this redevelopment smacks of "greed" comes not from concern but envy. After all, it is not they who will make the profit.

Visioning
John Samson in the Middy Mailbag recounts that the experience of reading the "Better Mid-Sussex" document left him in a hypnotic trance! I can second that opinion. Mr Samson points out that if we are supposed to be included in MSDC's plans, why not some heavily advertised public meetings? I concur, but wouldn't there be a slight risk that the public would come up with different opinions of what should be done from what the councillors and developers have decided, anyway?

LEADER

Community Power!
We read that Hanbury Stadium in Haywards Heath has been built for a local youth football team by an enthusiastic group of volunteers. One of these volunteers started a neighbourhood watch on his estate five years ago and cleared the area of drug dealers.

It just goes to show how much you can achieve without the handicap of local politicians.