Cllr. Williams spoke to MSDC
Published: 22 July 2025
Councillor Liz Williams gave the following speech to Mid Sussex District Council's Planning Committee last Thursday, the 17th, regarding the land west of Turners Hill Road:
“Thank you for letting me speak to you today. The residents of Crawley Down were not enamoured when a circa 350-home site was allocated beside the village in the proposed district plan. However, things then moved on. With no plan currently in place and no 5-year housing land supply, we in the north of the district find ourselves in a particularly precarious position. Our proximity to Gatwick makes us attractive to speculative developers with little protection from them. This is made worse by having Tandridge as our neighbour. Thus, we find ourselves looking at the proposed development on the Land West of Turners Hill Road in a new light. Perhaps we form a new category – neither nimbys nor yimbys we have become the fimbys – forced in our backyard. Like it or not, in the current climate this development would almost certainly be won at appeal. Such a legal battle if lost would result in the development being forced upon us, costing the council taxpayer a fortune while losing Crawley Down’s residents benefits from Section 106 funding. So we are left in a position that if we have to have it then we require a high-quality scheme, which does its best to fit into our village.
WPC’s planning committee believe that Wates has worked well with the community to try to achieve this. They have listened to residents, taken on board issues such as natural springs and made amendments, where possible to meet concerns. There still are local fears over access and we would ask MSDC to listen to local people, while working closely with West Sussex to ensure that access onto Turners Hill Road respects the needs of residents and enables traffic flow to continue safely.
Crawley Down is a village that has had well documented issues with utilities. Power cuts are frequent. Two and a half years ago the village was forced to rely on bottled water due to a water outage. There are question marks over the quality of sewers in some parts of the village. We ask MSDC’s planning department to keep a careful eye with the developer and the utility companies to ensure that the village does not suffer further due to any new houses being built.
Wates has worked hard with the Crawley Down community in drawing up its Section 106 ideas. Crawley Down village centre, sports facilities, community centres are all in need of investment. We ask MSDC to join with Wates and ensure that any Section 106 funding is delivered to the assets that need them so the village reaps the benefits.
There is a possibility that once planning permission is granted this site will change owner. It is essential planning conditions placed on the developer guarantee that the new owner delivers everything that Wates has agreed.
WPC’s planning committee has three voting options. Object, support or defer to officer. We voted to defer this scheme to MSDCs planning officers. We hope you do us justice and ensure this scheme is a success, fits into our village and brings benefits to all.”