Plans to build 204 homes on the former Novartis site have been approved by Horsham District Council.
The application, from Lovell Partnerships, which includes a commercial or community building, was given the nod by the planning committee on Tuesday (March 17).
It forms phases 1 and 2 of a wider development for the site on Parsonage Road, with phase 3 – for 244 homes – having been approved in October.
Access to the new homes will be from Wimblehurst Road.
The council received dozens of letters opposing the plans, with a spokeswoman for the Wimblehurst Road Residents’ Association telling the committee that the application was ‘an over-development that will seriously affect road safety’.
She added: “The surrounding road network is unable to accommodate this vast – and we fear under-estimated – increase in traffic. The lack of immediate access to main road networks will also add to congestion in this high-density residential area.”
Another resident raised concerns about the tailbacks that will be caused when the level crossing on Parsonage Road is lowered. But officers felt there would be no ‘significant increase’ in the queues.
As for the traffic, the committee was told that the Parsonage Road/ Wimblehurst Road/ North Heath Lane junction would be ‘slightly affected’ – but not enough to warrant refusal of the application.
The development will be made up of two and three-storey houses and five-storey blocks of flats. Some 35 per cent of the homes will be classed as affordable.
The locally listed clock tower at the centre of the site will stay but the multi-storey wings either side of it will be demolished and replaced, due to ‘significant structural problems’.
There will be parking for 250 vehicles, including basement parking below the central buildings.
The seven cedar trees which form an avenue from the entrance to the central building will be felled and replaced with an avenue of dawn redwoods, which can grow by up to five feet in one year.
The application was approved by 11 votes to one with one abstention. To view the plans in full, log on to public-access.horsham.gov.uk and search for DC/25/0629.
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