Fresh concerns over plans for 650 new homes in Billingshurst

The land is one of four sites allocated for thousands of new homes in Horsham District Council’s draft Local Plan.

Fears have already been voiced by the Billingshurst Community Partnership that the village is ‘fast becoming a deprived urban area.’

Now members of local environmental group BilliGreen say the proposed development ‘would remove a significant green space valued by residents.’

They say other proposals – for development to the west of Billingshurst – are preferable. In a statement to Horsham District Council they say:

“The developer proposing to develop the east site makes little effort to meet the criteria in strategic policies ‘Sustainable Design and Construction’ and ‘Green Infrastructure and Diversity’.

"It will build to current building regulations only. It would remove a significant green space valued by residents and commits to only 10 per cent Biodiversity Net Gain.

“In contrast, the developer proposing to develop the west site does much to fulfill policies of ‘Sustainable Design and Construction’ and ‘Green Infrastructure and Diversity’.

See: Fears Sussex village is ‘fast becoming a deprived urban area’

Concerns as four Horsham district sites earmarked for major housing development

"It proposes to build to the Future Homes Standard, above and beyond current building regulations; sustainable design using the principles of ‘20-minute neighbourhoods’; approximately 50 per cent Biodiversity Net Gain by rewilding 90 acres of land to create a nature reserve to be placed in public ownership improving access to nature for all Billingshurst residents.”

All members of Horsham District Council are to decide on the draft Local Plan at a meeting on December 11.