Sussex Forest Bathing

An early flowering cherry above keen mahonia

A sudden burst of snowdrops

A stunning end to midwinter solstice

....and the sun did come out for us!

Looking forward to our Winter Solstice session

Autumn pond

Saturday's forest bathers enjoyed the abundance of fungi together with the son et lumiere show provided by brief showers followed by brilliant sunshine during their mindful forest exploration

A Forest Bathing session on 28th October at 10.30 am will be led by experienced guide, Emma. To book a place, contact her via her website https://emmaweavertherapies.co.uk/forest-bathing-and.../

Late evening rainclouds enhance the view of the flowering Koelreuteria

The lovely scent of the rugosa roses attracts plenty of pollinators

Forest bathing on Exmoor

A great weekend for Forest bathing with bluebells out in force and the young leaves adding a colouring of gold

A lovely mild weekend for Forestbathing with scented blossoms, sun and busy clouds

Daffodils are doing their cheerful best to make up for the reluctant sunshine ahead of the Spring equinox

Application for 1,500 homes West of Southwater was withdrawn today. HDC planning department detailed a large number of reasons for likely refusal. Well done to everyone who made their views known. A good day for people power. We need to continue to make sure that the views of local people are heard and acted upon in these important matters. Below is an invitation to the consultation on the updating of the Southwater Neighbourhood plan.

WANT TO HEAR SOME GOOD NEWS? Berkeley Homes today officially withdrew their application for 1,500 houses, faced with massive local opposition and the many, legitimate, planning objections presented to them by HDC!! Now it is up to Southwater residents to decide how many houses should be built in our village. NOW it’s even more important that we have our say in the current updating of the Southwater Neighbourhood Plan. Come along next Wednesday 1st March 7-9pm or Saturday 4th 10-12am to Beeson House to have your say! WE the local people are influencing the shape of our village, not the big developers or greedy landowners.

Concreting over green space is usually justified in the name of local housing needs. Watch this video of new Southwater homes being advertised in the Far East by the housebuilder - together with their other houses in Sussex and Surrey. https://youtu.be/dxpQWxSNbqs

Southwater residents have just published a film to express the community's views on current planning issues. View the video on the Save Rural Southwater page or on the link below
https://youtu.be/4T7LmFlqz34

Winter Moss

Our Plan – Our Vision – Our District
On Friday 3 December 2021 Councillor Jonathan Chowen (Con, Cowfold, Shermanbury and West Grinstead) was unanimously elected as the new leader of Horsham District Council.
Commenting on his election, Councillor Chowen said:
“It is an honour and a privilege and I am delighted to have been elected as Leader of the Council. I am looking forward to tackling the challenges facing our District and the priorities of our residents.
“Our District is consistently recognised as one of the best places to live in England and only last week Horsham was quoted in the top twenty.
“I want to protect and enhance Horsham town, our historic villages and beautiful countryside - not build all over it with imposed housing numbers that ignore the needs of our residents.”
On the paused ‘Local Plan’ review Councillor Chowen added:
“The existing draft Plan necessarily met the targets set by Government through large scale house building on greenfield sites. Recent events have made this Plan undeliverable.

“Natural England’s position statement on water neutrality pauses all development in the District until a plan can be devised to mitigate the impact of Southern Water abstracting ground water near Pulborough to supply our needs. Our consultants have already determined that there are no feasible options for the local authority to achieve 100% water neutrality on its own. This is a wider problem which will require Government assistance and funding.
“The enforced pause of development means that we will have to reset our housing numbers because the current Government targets are clearly no longer achievable in this Plan period. Michael Gove has also signalled that he plans to re-visit outdated assumptions in the standard methodology for calculating housing numbers.
“Large scale housing developments will be much more problematic and not feasible until there is substantial investment in large scale mitigating infrastructure, which could take years.
“Therefore the need of large scale strategic sites such as those proposed at Adversane, Mayfield, Rookwood and Buck Barn, or the 1200 houses a year target, now looks very unlikely.
“Using our current plan as a starting point, we will work very closely with the local communities, and the Parish and Neighbourhood Councils. Our focus will be to address their local housing needs, aspirations and priorities. We must ensure that the housing we do deliver is high quality, eco-friendly in design and we must prioritise brownfield sites where possible.
“Also, we will need to consider the real world impact of planning delays to businesses and individuals, its social impact on investment, affordable homes, schools and recovery from the pandemic.
“We have to let our communities live, grow, thrive and evolve, otherwise they become moribund and unsustainable. We need the energy and enthusiasm of children and young people and the experience and wisdom of those in their later years. This will help to build diverse and sustainable communities.
“We also need thriving businesses, a strong rural economy, more home-working and encouragement for our young people to live and work in the District. This will help to preserve and enhance our way of life, culture, heritage, our environment and its wildlife.
“That is why the Council will be making a substantial further investment of £1million in our environment, delivering climate change initiatives and achieving carbon neutrality.
“My team and Horsham District Council are committed and determined to meet the challenges that we face, on behalf of our residents and the generations to come.”

Developer seeks to extend by 5 years ...

Developer seeks to extend by 5 years the current drip build rate of the Broadacres development – proof, if it were needed that these houses are not meeting the demand for which consent was given and only the developer’s commercial interests are at the heart of their housing applications. Make your views known on DC/22/1660 and the further frivolous application for even more housing Ref. DC/22/1916 and encourage all your neighbours to join in resisting the further desecration of our community for financial gain

Please note application DC/22/1660 by Berkeley Homes for a new/additional construction access to their current building site which would impact on the whole of Church Lane and affect a popular footpath. By its very nature this route is totally unsuitable and dangerous. Should developers be allowed to keep changing their access points halfway through their building process to enhance their commercial potential and inconvenience all road users and residents for a further 5 years on an even longer stretch of road? Should this not have been addressed when planning permission was sought or granted?
Objections to HDC planning applications under reference DC/22/1660

Make your voices heard by commenting on the HDC Application by Berkeley Homes. You can either follow the link or scan the QR code below to take you directly to the objection page. https://public-access.horsham.gov.uk/public-access/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=makeComment&keyVal=RJJ2WMIJ0FR00

Saturday morning was spent in sunlit autumn-coloured woodland. A chance to meditate under Emma’s gentle and experienced guidance (https://emmaweavertherapies.co.uk) and take in all the energy, health giving compounds and emotional nourishment nature has to offer

Lovely autumn colours - just hope that the rain eases off for our session later this week

WHEN OBJECTING TO PLANNING APPLICATIONS we should always stick to planning matters and not refer to issues outside the planning authority’s role. The word ‘object’ needs to be used.
Reasons for objections can be for example:
• Scale of development, coalescence with other settlements
• Impact on existing development
• Availability and adequacy of facilities (health care, schools, shopping), transport & multi modal access (bike, on foot, bus, rail, car) , access to open space, recreation areas
• Impact on listed buildings, protected species, nature conservation sites, ancient woodland
• Known flood risk and implications on site and downstream
• Traffic management during construction and future outcomes (e.g. ‘rat runs’ and congestion)
• Water neutrality
• Capacity to deal with drainage and refuse
• Most importantly of all, the Local & Neighbourhood Plan policies

In this context don’t waste your energy on issues which are not relevant like political promises, potential for corruption – these questions can be addressed in other democratic ways.

When objecting to planning applications ...
HDC DC/22/1916