Over the last six months the people of Hassocks have come together to express their anger at Tory proposals in the District Plan to allocate land north of the village for 500 homes.

The Parish Council made its objections clear and Hassocks resident Peter Rayner organised a Save Hassocks campaign.

The local Labour Party, along with other opposition groups, campaigned to raise their concerns.

However there was one organisation that ignored the interests of Hassocks residents, the local Conservative Party.

It is unsurprising that Tories from other parts of Mid Sussex leapt at the chance to dig themselves out of the hole they had got into without a District Plan by dumping an ill-thought out development onto Hassocks.

But what the Labour Party finds staggering is that Hassocks Conservative councillors Gordon Marples, and Michelle Binks chose to put party before community by voting through the modified District Plan at the Mid Sussex District Council meeting.

Trust in this Tory Council administration is already in short supply, and with this latest decision, many Hassocks residents will not put their faith in Tory Councillors again when the next local elections come in 2019.

With Labour you will see elected councillors speaking up for our community and providing the much needed scrutiny that is so desperately needed in Mid Sussex.

Labour councillors would have stood by the people of Hassocks and respected the views expressed in the Neighbourhood Plan

By Hassocks and Hurspierpoint Labour Branch Chair Will Matthews