It is scandalous that Horsham District Council (HDC) has failed to identify an exact location for 2,500 new houses somewhere "west of Crawley".

Why has no specific place been identified?

Because the exact location "west of Crawley" has already been provided by West Sussex County Council (WSCC) in its "structure plan", which said: "The broad area of search includes both land to the north and south of the railway line" - which is a brownfield site.

But, inexplicably, HDC decided to go it alone and propose a site (policy AL5) which is only "land to the north... of the railway line"

- a greenfield site in the ancient parish of Ifield, which would also necessitate the relocation of Ifield Golf Club.

The growing public opposition to HDC's policy AL5 has been unprecedented in the area and with good reason.

Why, therefore, was policy AL5 not completely rejected by HDC earlier this year, when it had the chance?

Goodness knows. The public is not privy to such things.

All we know, so far, is that HDC has made its old, discredited policy AL5 vanish from sight, and, as if by magic, made it reappear as part of its new core policy CP6. What a neat trick.

We also know, therefore, that the parish of Ifield and its golf club continues to remain under serious threat and could still be buried forever under the concrete of a new housing development.

Therefore, next month, to coincide with the end of HDC's "representations" - not "consultations" - the Ifield Society will hold its Christmas ramblette on Saturday, December 10.

On this, the Deerhunter's Moat walk, it is hoped fallow deer will be spotted within the medieval deer park, near the ancient moat.

Anyone who is interested in coming along, please meet at Ifield village green car park at 11.30am.

The walk will finish at about 1pm.

For more details, call 01293 535778.

-Richard W Symonds, The Ifield Society, Ifield