Greenbelt Under Siege: Fury Erupts as 200 New Homes Threaten to Destroy Prized Countryside
Villagers have claimed ‘appalling’ plans for 200 new homes will ‘stark them in the face’ and make their homes ‘unsellable’.
Residents of Felbridge, Sussex, are furious over proposals by Barratt to turn nine acres of green space into a huge development with a mix of detached, semi-detached, terraced houses and apartments.
They claim the new site will block roads, create traffic and parking chaos, as well as strain on amenities.
But despite the despair of local residents, plans for a ‘unique neighborhood’ have now been approved by Mid-Sussex Regional Council.
Barbara Hollingsworth, a resident in her 80s, told MailOnline: ‘I won’t be able to sell my house because it’s under development, and this house is under development, and there’s a road coming in.’
Stephen Cox’s five-bedroom home, where he has lived for eight years, will be directly affected by the development as it is to be built just meters from his backyard (pictured).
One house pictured forms a border and is due to be demolished to build an entrance to the property.
Mr Cox also doubted whether the roads could take the strain of more cars every day.
The grandmother added: ‘You’re building a house by the truckload of bricks, and there’s a lot of roofing lumber coming in, too. No one will buy a house here.
‘Once development is completed, we will return in 5 years. But once the work starts, it doesn’t come back.
‘Personally, noise and vibration are the problems. We’ll have to take the pictures off the wall.’
Other residents say the plans will affect their privacy and the tranquility of their gardens.
Local man Stephen Cox, 60, said: “It’s going to be quite intrusive to have the houses looking directly at us. It’s going to change my view of what I have now so much, it’s going to be a very different perspective.”
Mr Cox’s five-bedroom home, where he has lived for eight years, will be directly affected by the development as it will be built just meters from his backyard.
‘Sometimes everything gets too close to the back of the house,’ said the father of three. My house doesn’t have a particularly large backyard. It appears that the planners did not take this into particular consideration when accepting the plans.
‘We have a farm fence behind us, but we can’t leave it like this, so I think we’ll have to put up a fence behind it to make it more visible.’
Photo: Barratts’ planning illustration shows what the house will look like when completed.
Mr Cox, 60, said: “It would be quite intrusive to have houses looking straight at us.”
Mr Cox also doubted whether the roads could take the strain of more cars every day.
He said: ‘The fact is that nothing has been done to improve the roads in this area, despite the fact that many of the homes here have had backyard developments over the years.
‘They’ve been developing the area but haven’t done anything to improve the roads that those people use.’
Rebecca Smith, 45, said the town’s schools would not be able to accommodate the influx of residents.
He said: ‘For me the biggest problem is transportation. There is a school at the end of the road, which will be in the catchment area of the development and (the school) is already over capacity and no one is accepting new patients. Then more than 200 people will come in.’
The mother added: ‘There are no NHS dentists available in this area and there are very few available.’ There’s a local shop in Felbridge. This junction here is backed up during rush hour and continues all the way to East Grinstead.’
Pictured: Aerial planning documents show new homes in Fellbridge, Sussex.
<img decoding="async" id="i-a483007e8e905d98" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/10/18/14/91012949-13965885-image-m-27_1729257839514.jpg" height="610" width="634" alt="Paul Tucker, 65 (pictured), founded Infrastructure First, a community action group that aims to inform residents of the impact of development.” class=”blkBorder img-share” style=”max-width:100%” loading=”lazy”/>
Paul Tucker, 65 (pictured), founded Infrastructure First, a community action group that aims to inform residents of the impact of development.
The 200 homes will be built on nine acres of green space.
Her husband, Fraser, added: ‘Of course we need a house. But it used to be a greenbelt area.’
Retired business analyst Paul Tucker, 65, founded Infrastructure First, a community action group that aims to inform residents of the impact of development.
He is concerned that traffic issues will impact businesses in the area.
“It threatens the economic viability of the city because businesses don’t want to set up here because it’s not easily accessible, and people don’t want to travel here to do their shopping,” he said. If you travel there like we do, you’ll be running like a rat, it’s not safe and the roads aren’t wide enough.’
A Mid Sussex District Council spokesperson said: ‘An application to build 200 new homes on land south of Crawley Down Road, Felbridge, has been approved by Mid Sussex District Council’s planning committee. This site has been allocated for the development of the current district plan.
‘As with all planning applications, a number of consultants and comments were taken into consideration throughout this transparent process, including that of the highways authority, West Sussex and Surrey County Councils.’