Why Protect Rookwood?

Rookwood is 33% of Horsham’s Large Green Space

Large green open spaces have different qualities to smaller, intra development, green spaces and are recognised by the British Medical Journal, Horsham District Council , the UK Government and the public as delivering significant recreational and health benefits. Their value is self-evident as now we are emerging from our second stringent Covid-19 lockdown.

On behalf of residents, Horsham District Council (HDC) owns several large green spaces, of between 24 and 42 hectares, within the parished and unparished areas of Horsham Town. These include Horsham Park, Warnham Local Nature Reserve, Rookwood Golf Course, Leechpool / Owlbeech Woods and Chesworth Farm, further detail is provided in below.

Overall, the whole Rookwood site represents 33% of Horsham Town’s large green space

The revised January 2021 proposal presentation published by HDC treats Rookwood as four zones:

  1. Housing and flood mitigation will be built on the land south of Warnham Road (gross area about 31 hectares)

  2. A school, car park, roundabout and visitor centre will be built on the northern land in the area south of Walnut Tree Plantation (gross area about 5.6 hectares)

  3. A public park on part of the remaining northern land

  4. An extension to Warnham Nature Reserve on the other part of the remaining northern land.

We estimate that areas 1 and 2 comprise 36 hectares of Rookwood’s overall area of approximately 66 hectares and make the assumption that the remaining northern land will be split 50/50 between the public park (15 hectares) and the the nature reserve (15 hectares). From this we conclude that:

development of zones 1, 2 and 3 will urbanise 25% of Horsham Town’s large green space.

It is our view that this loss is disproportionate to the gain and does not represent a good balance of HDC’s priorities for housing targets, community health and resident well-being for Horsham Town residents.

Surely there is another way?

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Horsham’s Large Green Spaces

The following large green spaces lie within the parished and unparished areas of Horsham Town.

Chesworth Farm - 36 hectares, 17% of total

Horsham Park - 24 hectares, 12% of total

Warnham Local Nature Reserve - 37 hectares, 18% of total

Leechpool and Owlbeech Woods - 42 hectares, 20% of total

Rookwood - 66 hectares, 33% of total