New battle looms over fresh development plans for South Downs village

A new battle is looming over plans to build 35 new houses on land in a South Downs village.
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Horsham District Council turned down plans by Fairfax Acquisitions to build the houses on land north of Sandy Lane in Henfield in May last year.

But the company has now appealed against the decision and a public inquiry is to be held on June 30.

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The council maintains that the houses would intrude into the countryside outside of a defined built-up boundary and that the land has not been earmarked for developent. It says the development would also adversely affect the adjacent Henfield Conservation area.

It also says that it has a five-year housing land supply and the proposed development would by contrary to that.

Local residents are also objecting and many have expressed concerns that the development is similar to a previous proposal for 42 homes on the site.

Horsham District Council also rejected that application and it was also turned down by a planning inspector when developers appealed against that decision.

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Local residents maintain that the latest plan is similar to the previous one, but is for 35 homes, instead of 42.

Fairfax Acquisitions is querying the council’s five-year land supply and maintains that the district council is not meeting current housing targets.