THE SEVEN EMPTY PROMISES OF HOMES ENGLAND FOR WEST OF IFIELD – 1. “10,000 NEW JOBS TO SUPPORT THE LOCAL ECONOMY AND GATWICK DIAMOND”
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West of Ifield – Working
Posted on Jul 9th 2020 by West of Ifield
The new neighbourhoods at the West of Ifield provide the opportunity to create jobs and working opportunities alongside homes for new and existing residents. Overall, the site has the potential to support 10,000 new jobs.
During our consultation, we asked for your feedback on what type of new jobs should be available in the new neighbourhoods and what working environments you would like to see provided in the area.
Our feedback form asked a specific question about working in the new neighbourhoods which provided pre-set answers. In addition, we also provided an option for respondents to share their own thoughts and suggestions for how working opportunities should look in the West of Ifield.
Here are some of the comments:
“Employment that will keep the natural open spaces: fields, woods and farmland and protection wildlife”
“How is this going to create long term jobs?”
“Although this does not apply to me, it will reflect on my family to have the best alternatives available to them in the future”
In addition to providing individual comments, respondents answered the question ‘What opportunities for working should be provided in the new neighbourhoods?’ The answers to the options provided will help us know how to best design the neighbourhoods in order to offer working opportunities to support new and current residents.
If planning permission is granted, how will we provide these job opportunities?
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Increase in jobs created close to the new and existing homes and neighbourhoods to benefit the wider community
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Employment opportunities in schools, shops and community facilities
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Wide range of jobs for flexible working which supports a good work-life balance
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Provision of buildings and support for start-ups, smaller businesses and social enterprises
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Support the future growth of existing employment centres such as Manor Royal
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Long term jobs building the new homes
You can find more information about our plans for working opportunities in our question and answer document here.
Over the coming weeks we will be posting more about the key issues that came out of our public consultation. We have already uploaded a post about open spaces which you can view here.
West of Ifield – Open spaces
Posted on Jun 22nd 2020 by West of Ifield
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In January 2020, we held a series of public engagement events to meet with residents and understand your thoughts on our proposals for the West of Ifield. As part of this consultation, we provided feedback forms to get your responses to key aspects of the design including open spaces, transport, jobs and design.
We have published a report about the feedback responses which you can find here.
In the coming weeks, we will be updating this website with posts about the main themes raised in the feedback. These posts will show how we plan to respond to comments given in the feedback and ensure that the new homes at the West of Ifield benefit the wider community.
Open spaces
During our public engagement events and the feedback process, we received a lot of comments asking how we will protect areas of high community value and much-loved open spaces such as Ifield Brook Meadows. We understand the importance of these areas to the community and through the responses to our feedback forms we gained an understanding of how we can protect and enhance the setting of these areas.
Protecting these areas was highlighted to us during the consultation process, through conversations with the project team and responses to our feedback form.
One of the questions we asked in our feedback form was ‘How should the new neighbourhoods protect the environment and respond to climate change’. The results of this question highlighted the importance of providing open and green spaces.
The community value of open areas was emphasised throughout the questions. We also asked: ‘What do you think is important in creating new neighbourhoods?’ 171 people thought open spaces were one of the most important principles for the new neighbourhoods, which was the most popular response.
When we asked you which of the design principles for the West of Ifield are the most important and 120 people thought public spaces.
How will we take this feedback into consideration and ensure that the new neighbourhoods protect conservation areas and provide open spaces?
- We are planning on making more than 50% (half) the site as open space
- We will create a long-term body which will ensure the stewardship of these open spaces, which could include community ownership
- The new body and stewardship measures will ensure that we achieve a 10% biodiversity net gain (10% increase in wildlife on site over the existing baseline)
- We have carried out ecological surveys which have identified key conservation areas and ancient woodlands which will be protected with appropriate “buffer zones”
- We will avoid potential impacts of protected species as much as possible
- Protection of community loved sites such as Ifield Brook Meadows
You can find more information about how we will protect the local environment and open spaces in our question and answer document here.
Over the coming weeks we will be posting more about the key issues that came out of our public consultation, including flooding, roads and infrastructure. If you have any questions please get in touch at westofifield@homesengland.gov.uk or 020 8629 7209.
Homes England – Draft Horsham District Local Plan Formal Representations
Posted on Jun 5th 2020 by West of Ifield
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Homes England has submitted formal representations to Horsham District Council’s consultation on the Draft Horsham District Local Plan. Horsham District Council’s initial report on the consultation outcomes can be found here.
We have submitted these representations as a majority landowner and promoter in relation to our land to the West of Ifield, which is identified as Land West of Crawley in the Draft Local Plan. The representations demonstrate how we can help to provide the new homes, infrastructure and employment needed as identified in the draft Local Plan and ensure future development is sustainable. We have also provided suggested amendments and / or additions to some draft policies in the Local Plan to ensure the best overall outcome for the community.
Our representation once again highlights our commitment to bring forward a high-quality new community on land West of Ifield in a way which supports sustainable development in as much it will:
- reduce the need to travel and encourages the use of sustainable transport;
- provide at least 50% open space and a minimum 10% net gain in biodiversity;
- provide homes and jobs to meet the needs of local people ;
- provide a climate resilient development that contributes towards national carbon reduction targets;
- build essential supporting infrastructure;
- promote local stewardship and community management.
We believe that our site is in a crucial location and offers an excellent opportunity to deliver much needed new homes and infrastructure in a strategic location within the Plan period to meet Crawley and Horsham’s urgent housing needs.
The Land West of Ifield (site SA101) can be built as a stand-alone scheme, delivered in full over the Plan period and has the capacity to deliver a minimum of 3,250 homes. However, our plans show how the West of Ifield site could be the first phase of a larger strategic allocation comprising some 10,000 new homes which will progress over 30 years and create several new neighbourhoods.
The representations submitted to Horsham District Council confirm that the site is suitable for development and set out how we will work in partnership with Horsham District Council and Crawley Borough Council to ensure identified housing needs and wider objectives of the Draft Local Plan are met. We have set out our support and rationale for Horsham District Council’s provision of a large strategic allocation within the Local Plan that allows for the long-term growth for a garden town on Land West of Crawley.
The representations provide further information on some of the questions we have received during the consultation – for example regarding infrastructure, employment and biodiversity. Further information will become available as our plans are progressed.
Following our public consultation earlier in 2020, we want to continue the dialogue with residents about the proposals and demonstrate our commitment to support the creation of these new neighbourhoods throughout the planning and development process.
To read the representations please click here.
A summary of our proposals and position can be found here.
If you have any questions regarding the information in the representations please get in touch at westofifield@homesengland.gov.uk.
West of Ifield – Your Questions Answered
Posted on Apr 28th 2020 by West of Ifield
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During our public engagement events in January 2020 we asked for your feedback on our West of Ifield proposals. We have analysed the comments from over 500 feedback forms and produced a document answering the main questions and issues raised. As the engagement process continues and our plans become more detailed, more questions may arise. We will continue to update this document over the course of the planning process.
You can find the document here.
In the coming weeks, we will be uploading posts to our News Page focusing on specific themes raised during the consultation and feedback.
Don’t forget to like us on our Facebook page West of Ifield to keep up to date with the proposals.