Councillors have branded plans for 3,500 houses west of Burgess Hill "madness".

Members of Haywards Heath Town Council have written to their counterparts at Burgess Hill Town Council voicing their concerns about the proposals and have vowed to join colleagues in surrounding towns to fight the scheme.

In a statement, they said: "The town council strongly opposes this development and supports Burgess Hill, Hurstpierpoint and Mid Sussex District Council in the fight to overturn it.

"Both Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath have had or are in the process of having large developments imposed under their last local plans. To expect either town to take more is madness."

Developers from the West Burgess Hill Company want to build 3,500 houses and 500,000sqm of business space as well as making improvements to the infrastructure and creating educational facilities.

They believe if the development eventually gets the go-ahead it could create up to 5,000 skilled jobs in areas such as computing and information technology.

Director Martin Wilkes has said the development would encourage big businesses into the area, help provide a better infrastructure and fill a skills gap.

He said if the development did not go ahead, the community would lose out, adding: "Burgess Hill deserves the best thinking and the best ideas. These are sustainable and socially responsible.

"They are ideas that we wish to put forward and develop in partnership with the people of Burgess Hill."

But councillors fear traffic problems in Haywards Heath would be made worse, especially if a relief road for Haywards Heath was not built.

The scheme to build a section of the road between Wivelsfield and the A272 at Birch Hotel is due to be discussed at a public inquiry in September.

About 800 houses are being built in Haywards Heath at the Bolnore village development and councillors fear the combined effects of this and future development could be disastrous for the town.

Town Clerk Carole Preston said: "We have got the best railway station in the South East and certainly one of the busiest.

"If we have enormous development a lot of those people are going to go to London to work and clog up our roads to get to the station.

"It would be disastrous. The relief road must go around Haywards Heath to take up the traffic we have now. If this development did go ahead we feel Haywards Heath would come to a standstill.

"We have got our major development at Bolnore to be completed and we don't know what effect that's going to have.

"Then we have the borders with East Sussex and their councils promoting Haywards Heath and Burgess Hillas having facilities which they are not going to provide."