HURSTPIERPOINT SAYERS COMMON

PARISH COUNCIL

NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

‘Where we live …….

‘How should we plan for our future ?

The Parish Council wants the help of all those who live and work in the area to set out its long-term vision for the local area. With your help we are hoping to plan for the next 20 years; for new housing, new businesses, and new amenities. We want to decide on those things that the local community should preserve and those things which it wants to change for the better.

Over the next few months we shall be asking questions and listening to ideas about the future; through surveys like this, through public meetings, and by encouraging everyone to let us know their views by letter, email and questionnaires. Questions like:

  • Countryside + wildlife How should we preserve it ? Which areas are most important and why?
  • New housing How much? What type? How quickly? Where? For which people?
  • Employment What businesses should we encourage? How? Where?
  • Amenities Are there sports and leisure places that we can make better, or add to ? Are there local services such as schools and health centres which need to change ?
  • Transport What will change over the next 20 years? How can we adapt to it?

A Vision for our Parish The Parish area covers about 20 square miles of very attractive countryside and villages, from the edge of Burgess Hill and the hamlet of Goddards Green to the north, across to the small village of Sayers Common to the west, and stretching into the South Downs National Park area, south of the village of Hurstpierpoint. The northern part sits in the Sussex Low Weald, and the south is in the South DownsNational Park. The countryside is varied, comprising small and irregular field patterns, hedgerows, streams and woodland. About 7000 people live in the Parish, most in Hurstpierpoint, with smaller communities in Sayers Common, Goddards Green and throughout the rural area.

The Parish is in a highly desirable location, being adjacent to the A23 highway, mid-way between the conurbations of Brighton and Hove to the south, and Crawley and Gatwick to the north, and close to the rapidly growing town of Burgess Hill. There is also access to the mainline rail station at Hassocks. The opportunities for an attractive lifestyle and economic prosperity are considerable, but with corresponding pressures for change and development.

Our local District Council (Mid Sussex) is following the Government’s new planning guidelines, by producing its own District Plan and encouraging local Parish Councils to produce their own 20-year Neighbourhood Plan. We will be using the District Plan as a guide for some of the suggested policy statements we will be putting forward. Our surveys and public consultations in 2010 and 2011, and our two Parish Plans (Community Life and Village Development) published in 2011 have helped us to think about some of these issues, and we will be drawing on these to help us create our new Neighbourhood Plan. The new ‘Localism’ Act gives us the opportunity to have a stronger say in planning the future of our community. Putting time and effort into this new Neighbourhood Plan will mean that we will all have a much greater say over what happens in our area.

What would you like to see ?

What do you think about this statement ?

What do you think about theseobjectives ?

What things make our area special and should be kept?

What things would make our area a betterplace to live?

Any other comments ?

OPTIONAL: It would help if you could give us your name and postcode:

PLEASE FILL IN THIS RESPONSE FORM AND EMAIL TO US AT:

OR

PRINT IT OFF AND POST TO US AT:

Hurstpierpoint & Sayers Common Parish Council

Neighbourhood Plan – VISION

Village Centre, Trinity Road

Hurstpierpoint

WEST SUSSEX BN6 9UY

Please look at our leaflet: ‘Where we live….’

In the Neighbourhood Plan section of our website