Suitable site for housing need

Regarding ‘New housing: Horsham is full!’, as lead member of a consortium of developers promoting Land West of Ifield, Crawley, I read with interest the letter from councillors Mitchell and Burgess published in last week’s County Times.

There is little doubt that Horsham District Council has a difficult choice to make in the next few months, most aptly summarised in last week’s letter.

The essence of the councillors’ letter is that Horsham is not capable of accommodating the level of housing it needs, and so a new town is their preferred option.

Failing this their second option is to identify a town with good access links which could be enhanced by extra housing. In this regard, Horsham, Southwater and Billingshurst are ruled out.

Such a town is indisputably Crawley. Crawley Borough Council has publicly acknowledged that it cannot hit its housing targets because of its tightly drawn boundaries.

Crawley must therefore consider ‘exporting’ its housing need outside its boundaries, which must include Horsham.

As a result Horsham faces significant pressure for new housing generated not only by its own demographic needs, but also from unmet need generated by Crawley.