Page 20 - Ashbourne Park

STEPS TOWARDS AN AGREED STATEMENT OF FACTS
And stipulations

4.2 National Planning Policies (Continued)

• The OANs for Mid Sussex (see Appendix A) identified shortages-especially in three towns
of Burgess Hill, East Grinstead and Haywards Heath. Neighbourhood Plans were
encouraged to help meet this demand by adding up to 10% to their developments.
Ashurst Wood has done all it needs to do.
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There is no obligation by, or expectation for, rural villages to compensate for any
shortfalls in urban settlements or to act as a dumping ground to clear county or
district housing lists. Nor is encouragement given to developers for speculative
building not in a made plan.

• The Transport Statement accompanying the application is misleading because it refers to
an OAN for category 3 villages of 2,200 units to 2031; thereby implying that any
development in Ashurst Wood of less than that number would satisfy a need. Ashurst
Wood’s OAN is for 60 units to 2024 with a further 42 to 2031.

The Transport Statement is open to misunderstanding over the OAN for Ashurst
Wood because it implies that any development of less than 2,200 units would be
justified.

• The integrated development would produce around 60 dwellings more than Ashurst
Wood’s 13-year OAN target and absent local demand would, most likely, be rented by
people mainly on council house lists from the three towns , Crawley and the Gatwick
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Triangle. This would result in increased commuting and defeat environmental objectives.
• The integrated development would – in one hit - increase the population of Ashurst
Wood by over 13% against an average annual growth rate of 0.86%.

It would be virtually impossible for a small rural community to absorb this level of
growth

4.3 Sustainability Appraisal & Land Availability
Another crucial step is identification of land available for development including both
greenfield and brownfield sites. Catalogues were prepared for the county, districts and
villages and published in sustainability reports and development plans. There is an abundance
of development land in Ashurst Wood (see Appendix F1) to satisfy all objective needs. Most
of the suitable sites are to the east of the A22 and are far more accessible to the village centre.

There is no requirement for or sense in cramming the development in the way
proposed and, in the process, destroying the local community and Ashurst Wood
Village.

19 East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill