The design and layout of a development of 96 homes south of Southwater have been approved by Horsham District Council.
Plans for the site at Rascals Farm, in Shipley Road, had been refused by the council in 2020 but that decision was overturned by the Planning Inspectorate the following year.
At a meeting of the planning committee on Tuesday (August 6) members approved the layout, scale, appearance and landscaping of the development.
To do otherwise would likely have resulted in another appeal, which would have proved costly.
The development, from Catesby Estates, will be made up of 62 two, three, four and five-bedroom houses, which will be sold on the open market.
A further 34 homes – made up of 23 one and two-bedroom flats, four two-bedroom houses and seven three-bedroom houses – will be classed as affordable.
Two three-storey blocks of flats will sit at the heart of development.
One public speaker, who addressed the meeting, was not happy with the housing mix, calling it ‘imbalanced’ with an ‘over-supply’ of three and four-bedroom homes.
Water neutrality will be achieved by offsetting the surplus at another development in Pulborough, which will use far less water than the horticultural nursery it will replace.
While another public speaker said the situation felt ‘preposterous’, planning officers were satisfied with the arrangement.
The council originally refused the application on the grounds that the site had not been allocated for housing in the Neighbourhood Plan and its ‘urbanising influence’ would harm the ‘countryside character of the area’.
During his investigation, the planning inspector considered whether Rascals Farm was a suitable location for the new homes, what impact they would have on the area, and if the harm caused to the area would be outweighed by other considerations.
One of those considerations was whether the council could demonstrate that it had a five-year supply of deliverable housing sites.
This proved to be a sticking point.
While the council claimed it did have that supply at the time, the inspector found that it did not.
