During Tuesday night’s discussion concerning a proposal for more than 1,000 new homes on land to the West of Horsham near Broadbridge Heath, one councillor remarked that the wisdom of Solomon was needed.
Councillors were faced with a dilemma and in the end voted to give the green light to the huge development application by the Berkeley Group, although not a single one of them was completely satisfied with what was proposed.
Horsham District Council had wanted the new development to include 40% affordable homes, but Berkeley Group issued a ‘take it or leave it’ offer of 20% - which equates to 209 homes.
While some councillors suggested that the council should ‘call their bluff’ it was perceived wisdom that the developer was prepared to walk away if the offer was not accepted.
If they rejected the offer the councillors risked leaving the council not only having to find other sites to meet its Core Strategy housing targets, but also increasing the difficulty in being able to reject any future housing applications.
In the end the councillors had little option but to play it safe, even though there was some anger expressed at the ‘blackmail’ tactics of Berkeley homes. Seven of the 20 councillors on the committee, including all three Broadbridge Heath members, voted against the plan.
With the green light now on and an agreement already reached with the landowner, Berkeley Group will next draw up detailed proposals for a proper planning application, but it is now almost certain the new site will be built.
Cllr Robert Nye summed up the feeling by saying: “We would all rather have 40% affordbale housing and it’s not nice being backed into a corner. But make no mistake, if we reject this they will walk away and we will have to deal with sporadic developments which we cannot control.”
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