ANGRY residents used car power today to protest about plans to build a further 2,300 homes in their village.

Members of Southwater Action Group, near Horsham, held a rally during the rush hour from 8-9am to jam roads leading to Old Worthing Road.

Secretary Barbara Munford said they wanted to demonstrate the traffic problems which would be caused by building extra homes in the village.

Group members drove their cars in a circuit between the two main roundabouts in the village for an hour.

Mrs Munford, of Woodfield South, said they wanted to give people an idea of the congestion which would result if the village was expanded. The extra homes could lead to another 4,600 cars using the roads.

The Action Group is protesting about plans to build homes at Great House Farm, off Worthing Road, and on farmland off Mill Straight.

Mrs Munford said Southwater had grown from a population of just over 2,000 in the Eighties, to the present 9,000.

She said: "An extra 2,300 homes would be a big increase in the population and we don't have the amenities to deal with it.

"Today we are making people aware of the problem and asking them to write to Tony Stevens, planning director at Horsham Council."

A Horsham Council spokesman said the two sites were among six being considered for the Local Plan to provide the extra homes demanded by the Government.

He said the council was still investigating the sites and no decision had been made yet.

He pointed out any developer would be expected to improve roads and amenities and to provide open spaces.

The council would be issuing a draft of the Local Plan next March or April. It would contain the

council's strategy for

allocating space for development.

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