Government housing policy is pitting councils against residents across Sussex. Fay Millar reports on the growing row over a major development on the outskirts of Burgess Hill.

PROPOSALS now up for discussion in West Sussex County Council's draft structure plan include building 500 homes west of Burgess Hill during the next 15 years.

Strength of feeling is so high that Mid Sussex District Council chief planning officer Richard Walker has publicly said the homes should not be built in the town.

He said: "They will hardly generate any benefits to the community.

"When Burgess Hill last had a significant extension, during the Nineties, we got The Triangle leisure centre, the western distributor road and better access to the industrial estates.

"These 500 are going to be further away and we cannot get the same benefits. This isn't just a proposal for 500 houses up to 2016 - this is the start of the county's intention to have major growth near the A23 and the council is not denying this."

Mr Walker said the county council should not commit to growth so far ahead when it could not predict the future.

He warned that developing to the west of Burgess Hill would make the town more congested and encourage people to use the A23, turning the town into one sprawling housing estate.

He said: "The location is incorrect as far as railways are concerned. It's on the wrong side of the town. When people want to go to the station they have got to go through the town.

"But it is the right side of town for the A23. In the past, that would have been a good argument but it isn't now because it will encourage people to use private transport to travel from Burgess Hill, by means of the A23."

Mr Walker said the houses would be better placed at East Grinstead, which is closer to Gatwick and Crawley.

Martin Wilkes, director of the West Burgess Hill Company, is convinced Burgess Hill is the right place to build.

His company wants to develop 3,500 houses in the town during the next 20 years.

He said: "We agree with the analysis the county council has made in identifying Burgess Hill as a good place for development to take place.

"A scheme of the size we are proposing can provide the whole of Burgess Hill with a far greater level of services, including a better transport system, one that not only addresses people from the housing development but also helps the other people of Burgess Hill get from their houses to the town centre.

"Something like 40 per cent of people in Burgess Hill live and work in Burgess Hill, unlike Haywards Heath, which is a commuter town. Burgess Hill is a community which is self-sufficient in a lot of senses.

"It will be important to improve the links between the whole of Burgess Hill but we will be working very hard to continue the success of people wishing to live and work in the town by providing a reliable public transport system.

"I believe we can convince people to remain here through initiatives with the town centre retailers and the internet.

"Sixty per cent of the money that should be spent in Burgess Hill is spent elsewhere.

"The only way to stop that is to improve the town centre and I think if you can make Burgess Hill an attractive and exciting place to be, with retailers, bars, restaurants, schools and colleges, you will stop what is, at the moment, a town which isn't working incredibly well."

Chris Goldfinch, general manager of the Market Place Shopping Centre, said the town would benefit economically from the West Burgess Hill Company's plans.

He said: "They are obviously not keen to be thought of as another bunch of hit-and-run developers.

"We are keen to talk to them in greater detail. It is fine to put 3,500 houses here but if the infrastructure of the town is not upgraded it will be a nightmare.

"It is easy to be against something when you have not considered all the points.

"But I think if they prove it is good for Burgess Hill, and they seem to be aiming to do that, it could work."