Access to 25 homes on edge of Burgess Hill approved

The council gave the nod to an application from Brookworth Homes Ltd to improve the road leading into the site in Valebridge Road.

The bulk of the site sits inside the Lewes boundary, so it will be up to Lewes District Council to approve the actual houses.

If Lewes approves the application, the homes currently on the land – Pump House and Nuggets – will be demolished.

At a meeting of the planning committee on Thursday (March 28), officers were not sure what would happen to the small side road which currently gives access to Nuggets.

Members were unanimous in their support for the application but there was some concern about the amount of traffic and the speed limit on Valebridge Road.

Colin Holden (Con, Burgess Hill – St Andrews) said: “This is now the third development which has come forward where we have the access and Lewes has the houses.

“This is beginning to put a considerable strain on Valebridge Road in terms of traffic.”

Mr Holden asked if the district could contact West Sussex County Council and ask for a nearby 30mph zone to be extended to cover the whole road.

While officers said it wouldn’t hurt to write to the county about the issue, Pru Moore (Con, Burgess Hill – Leylands) pointed out that ‘we have been trying for ten years to get that road reduced’.

Ansty and Staplefield Parish Council had objected to the plan because the site was not allocated for development in its neighbourhood plan.

The meeting was told that the district plan took precedence over the neighbourhood plan.

Karen Dunn , Local Democracy Reporting Service