EDITOR'S CHOICE DOWNLOAD OF THE WEEK Listen to new music from Brighton's best bands WHAT'S ON Maxie, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton, July 3-5 Paul Heaton, Komedia, Brighton, July 8 GOING GREEN Rebels without a cause? LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Don't ignore flood risk warning HIV charity closing when its services are needed most COMMENT AND ANALYSIS Pub smoking areas have not helped people quit GET OUR NEWS BY E-MAIL Just register

Most read Comments 1 Livermore: I lasted ten days at Leeds 2 Police hunt sex attacker 3 Livermore joins Adams' evolution 4 Top bands to play summer gig in Brighton 5 A27 will close at weekends 6 'Only surviving son' banned from Brighton 7 Violent man imprisoned woman in Hove flat 8 Kemp Town crackdown on cycle sinners 9 Post Office investigator caught stealing mail 10 Care homes shut after police raid Today | 7 Days 1 Credit crunch puts King Alfred in doubt 2 Brighton-Shoreham monorail plan back on track 3 Hove residents want cycle lane closed 4 Anti-torture demo hits coffee giant 5 'Arty farty' £75,000 Brighton sculpture slammed 6 Brighton residents oppose travellers' site plan 7 Brighton squatters evicted 8 Albion unveil new sponsor 9 Albion re-sign Adam Virgo 10 Virgo could play up front

Comment

Villagers are paving the way for a new secondary school outside Horsham.

Residents and councillors are proposing the overspill for Horsham's three schools be built in Southwater.

Southwater Parish Council chairman Jeremy Senneck said: "There are three schools in Horsham and they are pretty full.

"We know there are plans to build a further 2,000 houses in Broadbridge Heath, which we think will put considerable pressure on Horsham schools.

"We're already sending 600 children to Horsham every day.

Rather than expanding Tanbridge House into a huge school, we feel it will be far better to have one in Southwater."

The idea was mooted at Southwater's annual parish meeting.

Southwater has one of the largest populations of under 18s in the Horsham district.

Already, the area could easily fill a small secondary school, providing 150 children for each year group.

The parish council cannot obtain the funding without backing from developers.

The Fletcher Trust, which owns Home Farm, to the west of Worthing Road, has already submitted three applications to develop the area.

Parish councillor Denis Bull said: "We're aware of the fact at some stage they are most certainly going to build more houses here.

"We're trying to take a realistic view to get the public to talk about things so when they start an inquiry, we will go in with a complete portfolio.

"If we get houses, we want to get a school out of it too."

Though plans are in their infancy, potential sites for the new school have been suggested on Home Farm land and to the south of the village.

Further public consultation will be carried out with people in Southwater later in the year when the parish council draws up its five-year plan.

It also plans to approach West Sussex County Council to find out if its school's strategy can accommodate the proposal.

Coun Senneck said: "If it agrees, we're still only talking about 20 years down the line.

"But I think there was enough of a response from the meeting to support putting the idea to the village."

6:40pm Thursday 15th May 2008

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login