Changes we need to make Haywards Heath town centre thrive again

As a child I remember how many shops we had on South Road, Sussex Road, America Lane and the Broadway. Now it is like a ghost town instead of a thriving community that it should be in the 21st century.

I blame the planners and the council for this as they contracted the wrong firm to develop Haywards Heath, they should have used Longley’s who built Burgess Hill instead of Hiltons, as you can see the difference between the two towns.

You should be catering for everyone and not just the people with money. South Road should be pedestrianised from South Road roundabout up to Lloyds bank, all charity shops and estate agents should be moved to Sussex Road except the ones down by NatWest bank.

The car parks by the Orchards should have all been shops and the car park should be a multi-storey one where the old girls’ school used to be. This could still be done but you say from Monday to Friday that the bottom floor is for the office block.

We also need shops like Aldi, Lidl, Wilkinsons, Shoezone and Primark and other shops like these. Also the rates need to be lower so that we can attract shops like these.

We also need a cinema and something for the teenagers to do instead of hanging around in gangs at the parks and other places.

We also need to have a decent bus service which means we need to have a bus station with a garage for this to happen.

MSDC seem to be more interested in Burgess Hill than they do Haywards Heath, with all the new houses being built in the area you have not thought about how the state of the town centre affects this. Not everybody can drive and afford to have a car.

Also Haywards Heath is bigger than Burgess Hill when you take in consideration that Cuckfield and Lindfield both come under Haywards Heath, so why is it that you are more concerned about Burgess Hill than Haywards Heath?

I hope you will print this as there are a lot of people that think the same way I do.

Alan Watkin

Allen Road

Haywards Heath