Felbridge will have 200 homes built on green fields

The application from Barratt David Wilson Southern Counties, for land south of Crawley Down Road, was given the nod by the planning committee.

The land was allocated for development in the council’s Site Allocation Development Plan Document, which was adopted in 2022.

More than 400 people objected to the plans, with concerns raised including harm to the countryside, increased traffic congestion, pressure on schools and GPs, and the ‘bland’ design of the proposed development.

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Crawley Down Parish Council echoed flooding concerns raised by Felbridge Parish Council, adding: “There are concerns over additional pressure on the local electricity supply as homes in our area frequently suffer power cuts, which will be exacerbated by additional housing.”

But most of the committee supported the recommendation from officers and voted 11 to one to approve the plans.

Councillor Rex Whittaker shared the concerns of some objectors that the already busy junction of the A264 and A22 would be made worse by the extra traffic the new development would bring.

He said: “The people of East Grinstead know that that junction operates over and above capacity.”

Mr Whittaker appealed for a works agreement to be included in the Section 106 legal agreement between the council and the applicant so that money could be spent improving the junction in the future.

Chairman Christopher Phillips assured him that councillors would be ‘putting a lot of pressure’ on the county council once a transport corridor study it had commissioned was completed.

The development will be made up of 164 detached, semi-detached and terraced houses and 36 flats.

Sixty of the homes will be classed as affordable.

Numbers 71 and 123 Crawley Down Road will be demolished to provide two vehicular access points for the development.

To view the application, log on to pa.midsussex.gov.uk and search for DM/23/0810.