Every generation faces a choice about how it builds. The need for homes, schools, jobs and growth does not go away simply because development is difficult or contested. Rather than repeating the mistakes of the past - the endless, unplanned urban sprawl from volume housebuilders that many parts of the country have been used to – we have an opportunity to do better. Kingswood is that opportunity.
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Where is Kingswood?
A mile south of Billingshurst and immediately opposite Brinsbury College is approximately 167 hectares of land – that’s an area equivalent to 275 football pitches. This land is not in the green belt and is not accessible to the public. In other words, this land could provide so much more to local people.
Kingswood – a proposed allocation in Horsham District Council’s Local Plan
Since 2018, Horsham District Council has sought to adopt a new Local Plan, which will set out areas for future development between now and 2040 (‘the Local Plan 2040’). The intention is to purposefully increase the supply of housing land to help boost housing growth and meet the requirements set by the government. This plan is yet to be adopted but is currently being examined by an Independent Planning Inspector.
The emerging Local Plan 2040 allocates sites to deliver approximately more than 20,000 new homes with associated infrastructure, equating to an average of approximately 1,100 homes per year. The Council are proposing to achieve this through a combination of intensifying existing allocations from the adopted Local Plan and identifying new sites for housing development, including strategic-scale sites such as Land at Adversane.
The Council has considered the benefits that allocating Land at Adversane would have and has weighed that up against the impacts of doing so, as well as the relative pros and cons of allocating alternative sites.
The Council has decided that Land at Adversane represents a sustainable new location where a substantial contribution towards meeting the District’s Housing Needs can be made up to, and beyond, 2040. The size of the site means that it can host and provide essential infrastructure, including up to two new primary schools, and a secondary school that will not only meet the demand of the new settlement but will also help to ease the pressure on places at The Weald Community School and Sixth Form in Billingshurst. The site will also provide new landscaped open spaces, including new sports pitches, and be of a compact form that will encourage sustainable and healthy lifestyles. Furthermore, new employment opportunities will be created by delivering new commercial premises.
The results of the Council’s assessment are set out in the Sustainability Appraisal, which sets out that Land at Adversane is considered to be comparatively more sustainable than alternative options.
Click here to read Horsham District Council's Schedule of Suggested Modifications to the Regulation 19 Local Plan