33 homes off Marwick Close, Ansty, approved 12-0. If the A272 footway land is not public highway, the plan goes back to committee on 3 December.

Plans for 33 homes on a field at the western edge of Ansty have been approved, with one condition that could still send them back. Ansty is a village on the A272 about three miles west of Haywards Heath.

Mid Sussex District Council’s planning committee voted 12 to 0 for application DM/26/0454 on Thursday 8 October, with no abstentions. That is recorded in the draft minutes of the meeting.

The homes would sit on the south side of Bolney Road, reached through Marwick Close and Upton Drive. Those two roads already serve 20 recent houses.

The footway condition

The scheme includes a new 1.5 metre footway along the south side of Bolney Road. It would run past Upton Drive and join the existing path at the bus stop to the east. The main service there is the number 89 between Haywards Heath and Horsham.

The night before the meeting, residents sent the council a review by their own highways consultant. It said there was not enough highway land to build the footway to the required standard without a third party landowner’s agreement. That objection is set out in the council’s agenda update sheet.

Officers responded by adding a new requirement, recommendation C, and councillors approved the plans on that basis:

  • the developer must get written confirmation from West Sussex County Council, as highway authority, that the footway land is adopted highway
  • if that is confirmed, the permission can be issued once the section 106 legal agreement is signed
  • if it is not confirmed, or the land turns out not to be highway, the application goes back to the Planning Committee on 3 December 2026

On 20 October the council’s planning portal still showed the application as “Awaiting decision”. No decision notice has been issued.

Why a countryside site was approved

The field is outside Ansty’s built-up area, so the adopted District Plan treats it as countryside. The officer’s report accepts that the scheme conflicts with the plan read as a whole.

What tipped it is housing supply. The report says the council cannot currently show a five-year supply of deliverable housing sites. Under national policy, that means homes on a site well related to an existing village should be approved unless the harm substantially outweighs the benefits. The report gave the new homes “substantial positive weight”.

The site is also earmarked for housing in the council’s draft new District Plan, as site DPA17. The report says that carries only minimal weight for now, because objections to it are unresolved. The draft allocation was for 45 homes, since cut to 40.

What would be built

Ten of the 33 homes would be affordable, which is 30%. The report gives this mix:

Type Affordable Market
2 bed flat or maisonette 3 0
2 bed house 5 4
3 bed house 2 17
4 bed house 0 2
Total 10 23

There would be 66 parking spaces on drives and at a flat above a garage, plus four garage spaces and seven visitor spaces. A path would link the estate to the public footpath along its southern edge.

What neighbours and the parish said

The first plans drew 35 letters of objection and 22 of support. The amended plans drew 25 more objections and 12 more letters of support. Objectors’ points included:

  • traffic and highway safety on Bolney Road, where they say the speed limit is regularly broken
  • Marwick Close and Upton Drive, private roads that were never designed for more than the 20 homes on them
  • the lack of pavements and the loss of trees for the footway
  • flooding, water supply and power cuts in the village
  • Ansty’s size and limited services

Supporters said families are being priced out of the parish and the site is a logical extension of the village. Ansty and Staplefield Parish Council raised highway safety concerns about the first plans and did not object to the amended ones.

The report finds the scheme would cause less than substantial harm to the setting of three grade II listed buildings on Bolney Road: The Ancient Farm, 2 Old Cottage and Butler’s Farm. It concludes the public benefits outweigh that harm.

Where the developer’s money would go

The section 106 agreement would secure these payments, as listed in the report. They total £722,676.

Bar chart of the infrastructure contributions for 33 homes at Bolney Road, Ansty: primary education £147,558, secondary education £144,966, transport £138,642, play space £117,518, community buildings £46,951, outdoor sports £46,660, local community infrastructure £33,398, sixth form £31,313, libraries £15,670.
Contributions for application DM/26/0454. Chart by Mid Sussex News
Share this chartFacebookWhatsAppX
  • Education: £147,558 primary, £144,966 secondary and £31,313 sixth form, to West Sussex County Council
  • Transport: £138,642 under the county’s Total Access Demand formula
  • Play space: £117,518 for play equipment and outdoor space at Ansty Recreation Ground
  • Community buildings: £46,951 for improvements to Ansty Village Centre
  • Outdoor sports: £46,660, for the village centre, the recreation ground, Ansty’s cricket and football clubs or The Arc in Burgess Hill
  • Local community infrastructure: £33,398, for bus shelters and parking in Ansty, electric car charging and cemetery space in the wider Haywards Heath area
  • Libraries: £15,670

What it means for you

  • If you live on Bolney Road, Marwick Close or Upton Drive, the footway is the point to watch. If the county cannot confirm the land is public highway, the application returns to committee on 3 December, and residents could register to speak again. The rules are on the council’s planning committee page.
  • Construction cannot start yet. No decision notice has been issued and the legal agreement is not signed.
  • More homes may follow next door. The draft District Plan also proposes 30 homes on the field to the east, as site DPA16. The approved layout includes a footway link towards it.
  • Ansty’s facilities get the money. The play space, community building and sports payments are tied to Ansty’s recreation ground and village centre.

We track other schemes across the district on our Mid Sussex planning news page.

Sources