THE possible building of hundreds of homes on two sites on the edge of Haywards Heath has been put on ice after another delay in the building of the town's relief road.
The Mid Sussex Times revealed on November 26 that drivers faced a wait of about eight years for the road to the south of the town.
News of the delay provoked requests for the housing at Hurst Farm and south of Sandrocks to be put on hold because
it was feared the current roads and other services could not cope with the demands of hundreds of extra families.
Land to the south of Sandrocks had been suggested for 720 homes and another 275 suggested for Hurst Farm.
But it is being recommended that both sites are brought forward later and not included in the proposed current submission document due to be agreed in January by the full district council.
Fox Hill Residents Association wants both sites to be dropped completely and the road regarded as the building boundary. Its chairman, David Cochrane, said of the delay: "We do regard this as helpful, but it is not the end of the road. We are not going to relax."
A report to the next meeting of the Better Environment Advisory group on Tuesday recommends both sites should come forward later through a 'core strategy review'.
The report says that both sites depend on the relief road being built.
Claire Tester, head of planning at Mid Sussex District Council, said: "The housing strategy proposed by officers at the Better Advisory Housing Group on the 6th of October has evolved following discussions with the working group and in the light of recent submissions from Crest Nicholson regarding the relief road."
The report to next week's meeting also says land at Haywards Heath Golf Course should not be taken forward in the submission document as a potential site.
