HDC’s Original Proposal
Introduction
In the Horsham District Local Plan consultation, Horsham District Council proposed several strategic housing sites, each of which can accommodate more than 500 dwellings. Rookwood Golf Course is one of these sites.
This site is unusual because the land is owned by Horsham Council (HDC) and it is the Council that will benefit financially from this development.
Horsham District Council’s proposal is to build at least 1,100 high density dwellings in blocks up to five storeys high on the land to the south of Warnham Road shown red in the map below. At a public consultation in March 2020, the head of the HDC Property Department showed slides describing the proposal. HDC has subsequently kept the slides secret and refused requests to publish them so that local people can understand clearly what is proposed.
On 30th March 2020, the last day of the Local Plan Consultation, HDC quietly submitted its Rookwood development plan documents as an “observation” response. Most of the information on their proposal only came to light in July 2020 as a result of a Freedom of Information enquiry.
HDC’s substantial Development Proposal is documented here: HDC Rookwood Local Plan Response and was commissioned in 2016/17.
The details we obtained revealed major flaws in the proposal regarding traffic and protection of Warnham Nature Reserve. Here is a link to our original concerns.
Transport Issues
New Rookwood roundabout destroys Warnham Nature Reserve’s car park
New Redford Avenue bus access cuts through football pitch and Riverside Walk
Lack of protection for Warnham Nature Reserve
Building is planned on land that poses the highest risk to Warnham Nature Reserve. A new cycle way cuts the Reserve in two!
Proposals violate many areas that Horsham District Council’s own assessment states should be protected.
