Mayfield
The battle to protect our countryside has been taken to a new level by Twineham farmer, Robert Worsley who has become something of a national hero after turning down a fortune to thwart plans for a Sussex New Town.
Mayfield: A response to Horsham District Council’s District Planning Framework
Written by CPRE SussexCPRE Sussex Trustee Dr Roger F Smith joined the many voices responding to Horsham District Council's Horsham District Planning Framework with statement issued to the West Sussex County Times.
Dr Roger F Smith speaking for CPRE Sussex-Horsham District said:
20 June 2014
Arundel and South Downs MP Nick Herbert spoke out against plans for a 10,000-house development in front of an audience of more than 500 people last Friday.
16 May 2014
The following letter was published in the Mid Sussex Times in response to claims made by Mayfield Market Towns Ltd:
In last week’s edition you publish a report that a new 10,000 house town near Henfield and Wineham that is being promoted by developers, Mayfield Market Towns Ltd, would destroy the habitat of an important barn owl population.
The would-be developers claim that the real issue is whether their new town there would provide a better solution to delivering much needed new housing for local people. This claim perpetuates two myths - firstly, that there is an accepted local need for a new town on the southern borders of Horsham and Mid Sussex, and secondly that its proposed location is suitable and sustainable.
Neither is true. Both Horsham and Mid Sussex District Councils are in advanced stages of developing long term plans for their Districts: neither of their plans calls for any new market town to meet their Districts’ housing needs. As to location, it is difficult to envisage somewhere less suited to a mega-development than the lovely open countryside around Wineham with no significant local unemployment, with no road, rail or other infrastructure, and on low lying fields prone to flooding from the Adur. Not to mention the barn owls, nightingales and other wonderful wildlife.
We challenge Mayfield to publish the ecological and flood reports that it claims to have commissioned so that we can all judge for ourselves.
Michael Brown
Trustee, Campaign to Protect Rural England, Sussex Branch
"Mayfield is selling castles in the sand" says CPRE Sussex Trustee
Written by William Shaw
Responding to a recent article by Mayfield Market Towns director Peter Freeman, CPRE Sussex Trustee Michael Brown has blasted Freeman's company as "a development company that is selling castles in the sand" in the Mid Sussex Times, on 16 January 2013.
4 December 2013
Hansard have published yesterday's debate in Westminster Hall on Mayfields Newtown, featuring local MPs Nicholas Soames and Nick Herbert.
In an adjournment debate yesterday Westminster Hall today Nicholas Soames MP appealed to the Secretary of State for Planning to ensure that unsupported plans like those put forward by Mayfield Market Towns in Sussex should not be allowed. He said that “Even the most zealous supporter of the scheme could not call it sustainable.” He called the developers' plans “Grotesque and wholly unwanted".
Mr Soames had called the debate jointly with MP for Arundel and South Downs, Nick Herbert, who pointed out that Mayfield had blighted the area and was now having a marked effect of local house prices.
The developers propose to build 10,000 homes in the countryside between Henfield and Sayers Common.
News: Nicholas Soames MP secures Mayfield debate
Written by William Shaw
29 November 2013
Nicholas Soames, Member of Parliament for Mid Sussex, has secured an Adjournment Debate in Westminster Hall on the ‘Proposed Mayfield new town in West Sussex’ on Tuesday, 3rd December.
Mr Soames’s Parliamentary neighbour, Nick Herbert, Member of Parliament for Arundel and South Downs, will be contributing to the debate and the Planning Minister, Nick Boles MP, will respond.
The debate will take place in Westminster Hall on Tuesday, 3rd December at 1100-1130.
Mirror article on Mayfield Market Town's board
Written by William Shaw8 November 2013
An article in the Daily Mirror, 7 November 2013 quotes Dr Roger Smith and Georgia Wrighton of CPRE and reopens the debate about a conflict of interest in the board of Mayfield Market Town's board of directors.
Hundreds of Sussex residents more than filled Adastra Hall, Hassocks, in a significant show of protest against the Mayfield market town proposal. It is estimated that more than 400 people attended the public meeting on Friday 18 October about the developer’s proposal to build 10,000 homes in the countryside between Henfield and Sayers Common.
The scheme proposed by the developer – Mayfield Market Towns Limited – would consist of a new town almost as large as East Grinstead for up to 25,000 people, in an area with inadequate infrastructure for development on this scale and limited opportunities for jobs locally, making it a commuter town. A protest group has formed in response to the proposal, Locals Against Mayfield Business Sprawl (LAMBS).
