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Your letters - June 18
THE LATEST letters from our readers.
WHAT a difference a change of government makes and what a disaster that change has proven to be for very many people in our district in need of an affordable home.
Some months ago the council's decision on the application submitted by Berkeley Homes for the Land West of Horsham was deferred in light of the intervention of the Secretary of the State.
Horsham Labour Party drew the attention of the Secretary of State to this application because we had serious concerns about the drastically reduced level of affordable housing offered by the developer.
The developer submitted a revised application with an improved offer but the application still fell short of the level of affordable housing required by the council's own core strategy and the level needed to address the severe shortage in our district.
The Tory councillors approved the revised application but in view of the Labour government's strong commitment to deliver homes for those in need we were confident that further improvement would be required by the Secretary of State.
Unfortunately the Secretary of State's decision could not be given until after the election.
Very fortunate timing for the developers and the Tory councillors but not for the residents of Horsham.
The new Conservative Secretary of State has now responded to our request for a call-in of the application with a letter that makes it clear that the Conservative government has no interest in ensuring that this development, designated strategic in Horsham council's own core strategy, will deliver the much needed homes.
Unlike his predecessor he feels that his intervention is not justified and he has withdrawn the Article 14 Direction which stops the application going ahead without government approval.
Interestingly, this is despite stating that 'planning permission should be determined in line with ... Horsham Core Strategy adopted in 2007.' This application clearly contravenes that strategy on a number of points.
Whilst we are pleased to have forced an improvement to the original application, in the process gaining a commitment of a further 7 million from the developers to Horsham council to provide affordable housing, we feel that this is still not enough.
We will be back in touch with the new Secretary of State because we believe it is unacceptable for the government to ignore the needs of local people.
We already see this happen too often at the local level in Horsham with the decisions made on the Town Hall and the community hall in Southwater, for example.
The Tories claim that local people will have more say in their local communities and yet only weeks in to their administration we now see them ignoring the views of the many people who spoke out against this application at the council meeting and who signed our petition. Is this the shape of things to come?
DAVID HIDE
Chair, Horsham Labour Party, Clarence Road, Horsham
MY THANKS to the County Times for presenting both points of view in the circus debate (Circus controversy comes to town, June 11).
As one of the quoted protesters, I should like to clarify a couple of points.
When I said 'things had improved to some extent' I meant solely that circuses with animals were fewer, thanks to public opinion, not better.
Secondly, the fact that such minimal welfare regulations as exist would be 'difficult' for circuses to comply with, means that circuses were exempted (shockingly) from most of these legal provisions. The law is rarely able to touch them (as matters stand at present).
A last point: while 'domestic' animal circuses may seem less objectionable than wild animal ones, there are still major welfare problems with regard to housing and training methods. Also, circuses that may only bring domestic acts to one venue are quite likely to hire wild animals for a venue where these are allowed.
There's lots of brilliant human circus acts around – let's stick to them.
FAY MARSHALL, Cissbury Gardens, Worthing
I SEE from your 28th May edition in the article by Nigel Friswell of the Horsham society and the letter by Rex Gibbons of the North Sussex Branch of CAMRA both have spurned our 'Olive Branch' and now seem out for Hall & Woodhouse blood.
To the former we are an 'absentee landlord' with no regard for West Sussex, to the other we are a restaurateur who has turned our back on cask ale.
Neither is right or fair, and I'd like to invite both to the Olive Branch in Horsham where they will find a traditional public house, lovingly restored, serving cask ales in excellent condition with freshly prepared, nourishing food.
I was extremely grateful to Dr Annabelle Hughes (Horsham's local historian), who actually paid us a visit at the Olive Branch and who, I understand, was very kind about the care we had taken in retaining the historical features.
Whilst grateful for the free publicity from the Horsham society and CAMRA I feel that they should visit the Olive Branch before passing judgement.
DAVID HOARE
Retail director
Hall and Woodhouse Ltd, The Brewery, Blandford St Mary, Dorset
ALTHOUGH you may think that the curse of the A boards is an important issue within Horsham surely it pales into insignificance compared to the possible loss to Horsham of its historic Town Hall!
A building which you seem happy to let the council turn into yet another restaurant based on your comments on the recent planning application.
I for one (and the five hundred people supporting the campaign to save this building) will be happy to see this saga continue until the residents of Horsham are listened to by Horsham District Council.
And for your information: the only reason the Town Hall has stood empty for the past few years is the council refuse to take bookings for this valuable community venue.
KEVIN MIDDERIGH, Croft Way, Horsham.
THANK you to Dr Ian Thwaites for acknowledging the robust attitude that Billingshurst Parish Council has adopted against new housing development in Billingshurst, in his letter of May 28.
However, it was not Billingshurst Parish Council's choice to narrow the strategic sites in what is termed 'the rest of the district' in the South East Plan to just Billingshurst and Southwater, it was Horsham District Council that made this decision issued in its press release of February 24, 2010.
With the choice of location already narrowed, both Billingshurst and Southwater are faced with proving the other location is more sustainable if they do not wish to accept major housing development.
In light of the change of government, the situation for Billingshurst and Southwater may have changed slightly, but it still does not get away from the fact that developers own or have the option to buy large swathes of countryside around Billingshurst and Southwater.
Horsham District Council has already said that with the abolition of regional spatial strategies, the demand for major housing in the Horsham district will not go away as locally generated housing numbers generally concur with the numbers agreed in the South East Plan.
In short, we will have to continue to fight both the planners and the developers if we do not want to see large scale development in our parishes.
Billingshurst Parish Council continues apace with its opposition to major development and will be asking its parishioners in its next newsletter due mid June to display a poster opposing development in their front window, and to write to Horsham District Council NOW to oppose the inclusion of Billingshurst in the Preferred Strategy anticipated in September.
Horsham District Council has already said that there will be few changes between the Preferred Strategy and Submission Stage Core Strategies, so this is our last chance to oppose the inclusion of Billingshurst for major housing development.
BEVERLEY BELL, Clerk, on behalf of Billingshurst Parish Council, Roman Way, Billlingshurst
MY SON and I are extremely concerned about all the proposed development in Billingshurst.
We do not have the resources to sustain them. We would need more schools etc. and there would be yet more traffic on our roads.
What we really need are more shops, there are at least eight here that are empty, due mainly to the high rents. People already go out of the village to shop, we need them to shop here. We have lost our community!
We would really like to move out of the area, but jobs and finances will not allow us to do so. A major problem is the council will not listen to people's views.
Why, do we need all these houses? Bringing even more people into our already overcrowded village and the South East.
ANN SMITH, Carpenters, Billingshurst
I WAS very sad to read the article in last week's County Times regarding Dr Brian McDonagh.
I have been a patient of Dr McDonagh's for many years and have come to know him not only as a patient but as a person. He has treated me and most of my family. I know Dr McDonagh to be a brilliant and talented doctor whose only aim in life is to help his patients.
He is a man of the highest integrity and moral standards and a truly gifted diagnostician. I personally have been misdiagnosed by other doctors in the past, one of a very serious nature.
However I would never have dreamed of reporting it to an official body, for I know that doctors cannot be right all the time.
What has happened to this inspirational man will be a cause of great distress to many of his patients and indeed a very sad loss to the medical progression.
URSULA M KILBURN,
Tanbridge Park, Horsham
I AND all the volunteers at Cancer Research UK in Horsham would like to say a huge thank you to all the people in Horsham who donated items at our 'donation station' in Swan Walk in May.
We collected a grand total of 582 bags which could generate as much as 15,000 for our charity. A fantastic result!
VICTORIA FRANCES Manager
Cancer Research UK East Street, Horsham
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