Plans to build 43 homes in Rusper have been approved by Horsham District Council.
The application from Stonebond Properties for land at Millfields Farm, off Horsham Road, was given the thumbs-up by the planning committee on Tuesday (October 1).
It was a close vote, with seven members agreeing with the recommendation to approve and six opposing.
An ‘incredibly frustrated’ Tony Hogben (Con, Colgate & Rusper) pointed to developments at Kilnwood Vale and other sites lined up for housing and said Rusper was being ‘dumped on’.
Previous applications to build 42 and 29 homes on the site were refused in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Mr Hogben was of the view that the only thing that had changed since then was the council’s lack of a five-year housing land supply.
He added: “If we had a five-year land supply, this site wouldn’t be in front of us today. It would be turned down by officers.”
The fact that 22 of the new homes would be classed as affordable was welcomed by Ruth Fletcher (Lib Dem, Denne), who called it a ‘significant addition’ to what was needed.
Citing the traffic calming and improvements to public rights of way included in the application, she added: “I think those benefits weigh very strongly against the levels of harm identified.”
The council received 23 letters of objection to the plans and four letters of support.
Concerns raised included an increase in traffic and its impact on road safety, the loss of countryside and farm buildings, and flooding.
A new entrance will be opened onto East Street, while the current Horsham Road entrance will only be open to pedestrians, cyclists, emergency vehicles and those living in Millfields Farm Cottage.
Some 1.37ha of the 4.2ha site will be public open space.
To view it in detail, log on to public-access.horsham.gov.uk and search for DC/24/0699.
