TONIGHT AT 7.30PM [THURSDAY] – NOVEMBER 7 2024 – ‘SAVE WEST OF IFIELD’ PUBLIC MEETING [& AGM] – GUEST SPEAKER: PETER LAMB MP – IFIELD COMMUNITY CENTRE, IFIELD DRIVE RH11 0HD [ACROSS ROAD FROM CO-OP IN SHOPPING PARADE]
Save West of Ifield – Report from the Chair – Fenella Maitland-Smith
Covering 5th September 2023 – 31st October 2024, delivered at the SWOI AGM on 7th November 2024
My report covers the 14 months since our last AGM in September 2023, and falls under the following headings:
1. The Regulation 19 consultation process for Horsham’s Local Plan,
2. Changes in the political landscape at local and national level,
3. Homes England’s continuing work on their planning application (not yet submitted), and
4. SWOI engagement and fund-raising.
1. The Regulation 19 consultation
This meant weeks of hard work for those closely involved in the campaign, and considerable effort from the huge
number of supporters who managed to navigate the system and submit a response.
• Horsham District Council (HDC) published their draft Local Plan on 4th December, leaving only a week for
councillors and the rest of us to get on top of it before voting at their meeting on 11th December. We wrote to
all councillors before the meeting pointing out the flaws in the allocation of the West of Ifield site. On 11th
December SWOI staged a noisy protest outside the council offices, and I and others spoke at the Council
meeting. Sadly the Council voted to progress to the Reg 19 consultation stage, which ran from mid-January to 1st
March.
• The SWOI technical responses covered 11 policy areas, and ran to 516 pages. Thanks to our generous
supporters, and cooperation with Rusper PC, we could pay for vital expert advice and submissions from our
planning consultant – Stuart Crossen at Cerda Planning Ltd. – and other experts covering traffic and roads,
landscape, water and golf. See all reports here: https://www.savewestofifield.co.uk/
• Cathy Durrant led a big piece of work to help supporters to respond, both advising on what to write and in which
boxes of the form, but also on how to navigate HDC’s very difficult system. She ran face to face meetings in
Ifield, as well as putting together guidance packs.
• During the consultation period Rusper Parish Council (RPC) held an “extra” public meeting to discuss West of
Ifield with John Milne – then HDC Cabinet lead on planning (now Lib Dem MP for Horsham). I was on the panel
(in my capacity as Rusper parish councillor) and was able to hold Mr Milne to account for some of the
inconsistencies and incorrect assumptions about the West of Ifield. https://rusper-pc.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/minutes-agendas-newsletters/Minutes_2024-02-13.pdf
• The good news is that there were 370 Reg 19 responses objecting to the West of Ifield proposals – almost a
quarter of all responses to the Plan (1,636) – with only 3 responses supporting the West of Ifield. Great work,
particularly given how difficult the consultation process was.
2. Political landscape
While the general election was an opportunity to get West of Ifield on the agenda, we’re now fighting the
Government’s changes to planning law (NPPF) which load thousands more houses in Sussex and the south east.
• In November 2023 a small group of us took to the streets of Westminster to deliver a letter and petition to
Michael Gove – then Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities – and to
the CEO of Homes England. See letter here: https://www.savewestofifield.co.uk/documents. The delegation
also visited the Houses of Parliament but Jeremy Quin MP was not available.
• We also attended public hustings and raised the issue. It was good to see that overdevelopment and loss of
greenspace featured in candidates’ material as a key electoral issue.
• Within weeks the new government launched a consultation on its proposed changes to the National Planning
Policy Framework. We submitted a robust and detailed response, particularly on the changes to the calculation
of house-building targets, and were pleased to see that HDC did likewise. See here:
https://www.savewestofifield.co.uk/documents
• We take every opportunity to engage with local MPs. Thank you to Peter Lamb for speaking at this year’s AGM
and we hope to meet on a regular basis as we did with his predecessor Henry Smith. We lobby John Milne
(Horsham) but understand that he can no longer support SWOI given his responsibility for HDC’s Local Plan since
May 2023, but we do appreciate him speaking out on housing targets. I’ve also discussed this with Andrew
Griffith (Arundel and South Downs) as he too is working hard to oppose the Government’s changes to the NPPF.
• We continue to lobby and meet councillors and officials in Horsham and Crawley Councils on specific issues.
3. Homes England’s planning application
Homes England had said they would submit a “hybrid” planning application in 2024, in parallel with the Local Plan
Examination. We don’t know why they haven’t, but we do know they’re progressing it. And we’re preparing to
fight it.
• Homes England submitted another Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Scoping Opinion Request to HDC in
May, to which we provided a detailed response (https://www.savewestofifield.co.uk/documents) focussing on
water supply, Bechstein’s bats and the lack of information for adequate decision-making.
The EIA announced plans to extract water from the aquifers 200m under the site – and their contractors are now drilling exploratory boreholes – we challenge the sustainability of this extraction.
The EIA also contained new information about the
colony of Bechstein’s bats roosting and feeding across and around the site including on the golf course, and
again we challenge the conclusions being drawn about the importance of the colony.
• We also introduced the legal question of whether the planning application will provide sufficient information for
adequate decision-making, particularly regarding environmental impacts. We noted that the Supreme Court
judgement on the Horse Hill drilling proposals hinged on the finding that the EIA in that case did not provide
sufficient information for public debate and “democratically legitimate” decision-making. We noted that the EIA
defers several key surveys until after determination of the planning application.
• Homes England recently published their own Golf Needs Assessment, and possible options to mitigate the loss of
Ifield Golf Club. They admit, finally, that “…it cannot be demonstrated at this time that the course is clearly
surplus to requirements”, and are suggesting that enhancing Tilgate and/or Goffs Park will compensate.
https://westofifield.commonplace.is/en-GB/news/west-of-ifield-draft-golf-needs-assessment
4. Public engagement and fund-raising
Engaging people and fund-raising takes non-stop hard work. We’re pleased to have almost 2,000 supporters on
Facebook, plus an email list of 480 people less keen on social media. Our supporters helped raise nearly £10,000
last year.
• We’ve continued to give radio interviews and to have many letters and articles published in the local press
(Sussexworld). We were also very grateful to All About Horsham (AAH) for their multi-page feature on SWOI in
their February edition, see from page 48 https://www.aahorsham.co.uk/content/aahfeb24.
• We spread the word via talks at parish meetings and at Crawley Museum, as well as stands at May fayres, IFEST,
and in Horsham and Crawley shopping centres, and again this year at the CPRE countryside fair. We led five
guided walks across and around the site – very effective for engagement and fund-raising. Thank you to our
supporters who work to make sure friends and neighbours are aware via social media, delivering leaflets,
sticking up posters, displaying placards, etc.
• Fundraising is also a non-stop and uphill task, but the Treasurer’s report shows that we raised £9,598 last year
from donations (79%), quizzes (10%), walks and other events. Thank you.
• We’re extremely grateful to other groups and local institutions for lending premises, resources and giving
invaluable advice: Rusper PC, Charlwood PC, Ifield Cricket Club, The Ploughs – Rusper and Ifield, The Ifield
Society, Ifield Village Conservation Area Advisory Committee, CAGNE, GACC, Surrey Bat Group, CPRE, Sussex
Botanical Recording Society, and Sussex Biodiversity Records Centre.
Looking forwards
• HDC’s Local Plan is now being examined by a planning inspector. We’ll be busy from now until the end of
January both preparing to represent SWOI’s views at the Examination Hearings in December and January, and
raising funds to pay for experts to do the same on our behalf. Anyone can attend the hearings as an observer
and the key hearing for SWOI is scheduled for Thursday 16th January.
• We also expect Homes England to submit their planning application in the next few months. Again we have to
be ready to pay experts to assess the detail in the application, and to respond on our behalf. We’ll also be
preparing our own responses on other topics.
• We will of course be encouraging everyone to respond to the planning application, which may well require more
meetings, workshops and guidance.
And finally … Thank you to the SWOI committee and everyone else who’s worked so hard over the past year. And
to all our supporters for giving what you can – whether it’s cash, time or encouragement.
Report from the SWOI Treasurer – Cathy Durrant
Covering 5th September 2023 – 31st October 2024, delivered at the SWOI AGM on 7th November 2024
Note: The 2022/2023 period covered 14 months (9th August 2022 – 4th September 2023).
The 2023/2024 period covered 13 months (5th September 2023 – 31st October 2024).
Financial Position
At 31st October 2024 the cash held by Save West of Ifield was £7,964.90, which when compared to the position at 5th
September 2023 of £6,883.83 represents an increase of £1,081.07 or 16%.
This cash is for future expected expenses, which in the main will be expert consultancy fees.
In addition, at 31st October 2024 SWOI had outstanding pledges of £1,000, giving a total available to spend of nearly
£9,000 which is roughly the same as at the last AGM 14 months ago.
Income and outgoings
During the 23/24 period total income was £9,598.81, of which 79% was from direct donations and the rest from
fund-raising events such as quizzes, walks and fayres. See chart and tables below.
Donations were significantly higher in
23/24 than the previous year, due mainly
to supporters’ generosity in the run-up to
submission of the Regulation 19
consultation responses enabling us to pay
for reports from a number of experts.
Expenditure (outgoings) during 23/24 was
£8.517.74, of which 90% was on expert
consultancy fees. The remaining
expenditure was on printing, banners and
other event costs.
We still need more funds so that we can
pay experts to represent us at the
Inspector’s Examination Hearings for the
Local Plan in January, and so that we can
fight the forthcoming Planning
Application(s) from Homes England.
Income 2023/2024 (£) * 2022/2023 (£) *
Donations 7,537.90 4,430.35
Walks 670.91 1,059.40
Fayres 85.90 1,009.62
Quizzes 990.10 943.00
Mixed events 314.00 920.04
Total 9,598.81 8,362.41
Outgoings 2023/2024 (£) * 2022/2023 (£) *
Consultancy Fees 7,640.40 1,960.00
Printing 560.90 1,567.00
Event Costs ** 65.99 562.30
Public Liability insurance 40.45 161.46
Placards & Banners 210.00 135.00
Total 8.517.74 4,385.76
* Periods are 9th August 2022 – 4
th September 2023 (13 months) and 5th September 2023 – 31
st October 2024 (14 months).
** Includes -£250.00 for deposit returned on 2023 AGM hall hire, paid in 2022/23.
NOVEMBER 7 2024 ‘ ‘SEARCH FOR AQUIFERS’ – WEST SUSSEX COUNTY TIMES – LETTERS [NOV 7]