Draft Crawley Local Plan includes new housing development sites

The Plan, which sets out how everything from housing to employment to commercial space is controlled between 2021-2037, is vital to protect Crawley from ‘predatory’ developers.

It was approved for consultation during a meeting of the full council last Wednesday (February 22).

This will be the third time it has been put out to what is known as a Regulation 19 consultation, having been delayed by changes to the government’s aviation policy and then by Natural England’s position statement on water neutrality.

Atif Nawaz, cabinet member for planning & economic development, said the delays had been ‘entirely beyond the council’s control’.

He added: “It is vital we get our Local Plan renewed as soon as possible so that, as a council, we can continue to have a pivotal say on proposed new development.

“An out of date Plan would leave us seriously exposed to unwanted development.”

The Plan includes using land east of Gatwick Airport, known as Gatwick Green, as a Strategic Employment Location – something which has not gone down well with everyone.

Richard Burrett (Con, Pound Hill North & Forge Wood) said he supported the vast majority of the Plan but tabled an amendment asking for Gatwick Green to be removed from the process.

Referring to it as ‘one of the last areas of rural land in the borough’, Mr Burrett told the meeting that plans to use the site for storage distribution warehouses would ‘blight that area completely – it would change it beyond recognition’.

Despite his concerns, the amendment was voted down.

The Local Plan includes a number of key housing sites that are considered ‘critical to the delivery of future housing in Crawley’.

Among them are sites considered to be ‘deliverable’ within the first five years of the Plan (2024/25-2028/29):

Forge Wood Phase 4B (434 homes) Zurich House, East Park, Southgate (53 homes) The former TSB site, Russell Way, Three Bridges (59 homes) The upper floors of 7-13 The Broadway and 1-3 Queens Square (25 homes) Shaw House, Pegler Way, West Green (33 homes) Longley House, Southgate (121 homes) Land at Steers Lane, Forge Wood (185 homes)

Sites considered to be ‘developable’ in years six to 16 of the Plan (2029/30-2039/40) are:

Land next to Sutherland House, Russell Way, Three Bridges (30 homes) Land next to Desmond Anderson School, Tilgate (205 homes) Land to the south-east of Heathy Farm, Balcombe Road, Forge Wood (188 homes)

This Local Plan (2024-2040), once adopted, will replace the current Crawley Local Plan (2015-2030).

Following the public consultation, it will be submitted to the Secretary of State in July for examination by an independent inspector.

Crawley’s neighbour, Horsham District Council has delayed any decisions on its new emerging local plan until the other side of the May council election. As the most contentious development in and around Crawley is Homes England’s West of Ifield, residents will have to wait and see if this is proposed as an allocated site.