Third application for homes east of Manor Close in Henfield

Welbeck Land has planning permission for the homes east of Manor Close, but has submitted seemingly identical plans to Horsham District Council.

In 2012 Welbeck appealed to the planning inspector on the grounds of non-determination but submitted an identical second application to the council on the proviso that it would drop the appeal if HDC approved plans.

However, HDC’s Development Control South Committee rejected the second application in July 2012, and the appeal was upheld by the planning inspector in September 2012.

According to a planning statement submitted by Welbeck to HDC on its planning portal, the purpose of the latest application is to renew approved consent which expires in March 2014.

It reads: “The purpose of this application is to renew the approved consent which expires in March 2014 with the standard three-year time limit for the submission of the reserved matters. The resubmission is necessary due to the on-going delay in assessing the application for town or village green status of the site. The application was made by residents.”

In the planning inspector’s report, dated September 26, he set a condition limiting the deadline for an application for reserved matters to 18 months in ‘recognition of the need for additional housing’ within the area.

In a circular, Hands off Henfield, which is fighting housing proposals on greenfield sites, said: “We feel very strongly that this site was granted permission because of the supposed overwhelming need for houses in the district but if this is not the case and people are not flocking to Henfield we must object and not allow this site to be yet another ‘landbank’ for developers to use when the economy improves.”

Meanwhile the village is also fighting off an application for 160 homes off West End Lane by Barratt Homes, while Mayfield Market Towns are floating plans for a 10,000 house market town between Henfield and Sayers Common.