University campus plans for Horsham Novartis site hailed as ‘great news’ for town

The University of Brighton and Novartis announced today they were negotiating over the sale of the site off Wimblehurst Road after the pharmaceutical giant ceased its Horsham operations last year.

If agreed a high-quality centre for higher education could create an estimated 2,250 new jobs, bring £1.7bn of investment into the region over ten years, and provide around 3,500 places for students.

Readers took to Facebook and Twitter this morning to welcome the announcement as ‘brilliant’ and ‘great news’ for Horsham with many in favour of the economic boost it could bring to the town, as well as the influx of skilled young people.

One Facebook user wrote: “Good news! Extra jobs for the town, and the younger demographic might encourage some new shops into the town centre.”

Another added: “I think this is a very good idea and the fact that such a large site will be used for such a good use rather than laying derelict is very positive. This will create a lot of jobs in the local area and open up lots more opportunities for our children, so I am all for it.”

Meanwhile the County Times asked visitors to the town centre what they thought about the proposals, with shoppers welcoming the news as likely to bring major investment into the town.

The announcement was also welcomed by business leaders today including Ron Crank, chief executive of the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership, and Rosemary French, executive director at the Gatwick Diamond Initiative.