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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Horsham - houses and schools

23 replies

Firehouse1 · 05/03/2023 21:02

This is slightly outing so I have named changed.

My local area, Horsham (and surrounding Villages of Broadbridge Heath and Southwater) have had a huge amount of housing added. It really is a crazy amount (highwood, wickhurst green, kilnwood vale, the new estate in southwater, new estates in billingshurst, new estate in rusper)

We have 4 secondary schools and this year loads of people in Southwater didn’t get into one remotely near. In fact they need to travel 30-40 minutes (probably an hour in traffic) away to a school in Burgess Hill! The local boys school has in recent years started accepting girls which won’t have helped.

How is it possible to build enough houses to fill a town yet not add any drs surgeries or secondary schools? The newest school they built doesn’t seem to have done the trick and doesn’t help these kids in southwater.

AIBU to think we have a huge issue here when developers can build overpriced crap houses with tiny gardens (up to £900k) round here… and there is no school for them. Some of the estates also have issues with crime and roads that are not owned by the council plus traffic issues (e.g. bus lanes that cars speed through because they can’t be bothered to go to new road and shortcuts that have been built outside a busy shop/nursery).

Its preventing me from moving myself as I’m scared to move away from being right near a good school. I also can’t move because these people keep building tiny houses that are overpriced. I just can’t better my slightly crap 1970s 3 bed house unless I can go close to a £million. Insanity!

is this just happening round here? Or is it everywhere?

Along with schools, the main dr surgery in town is not good. It has had trouble recruiting doctors and is making a list of surgeries that require improvement. It’s bloody awful round here right now. That’s another thread though!

OP posts:
Original poster
Firehouse1 · 05/03/2023 21:30

Oh I thought there would be a few comments on this by now… perhaps this is just a south east issue?! The mass building of houses but no infrastructure

OP posts:
Whattodo77 · 05/03/2023 21:33

There’s a housing shortage so it’s great it’s being addressed.

I’m really surprised they aren’t building new schools and doctors’ surgeries etc though. They are doing all of that not far from where my family lives (and are building about 30k new homes!).

Moraxella · 05/03/2023 21:33

They pay lip service saying they will build new health services but never do. No extra GP access, no extra hospital beds, no extra maternity capacity. Also in SE.

cestlavielife · 05/03/2023 21:36

Start reading here
commonslibrary.parliament.uk/when-new-housing-is-built-can-communities-get-the-infrastructure-to-go-with-it/

Folow the links
Raise it withyour mp amd local council

Original poster
Firehouse1 · 05/03/2023 21:38

Horsham is also in a hospital black spot. Nearest main hospital is east Surrey (redhill) or Worthing or Guildford. It’s shocking. We deserve our own maternity and emergency department.

OP posts:
roseopose · 05/03/2023 21:42

I grew up in that area, worked in Crawley for a long time and lived all round West Sussex for my whole life. I totally agree with you, we legged it to a cheaper less crowded part of the country last year and have never looked back. To travel from Southwater to Burgess Hill for school is utterly insane.

Heronwatcher · 05/03/2023 21:42

Its a growing issue and only likely to get worse. I don’t know the reason why. Either Councils are so crap/ inept they don’t get what they should in terms of funds from the developer, or the developer goes bust before they pay up (suspiciously after building the profitable houses), or the Council don’t match their side of the funding. I’m all for proper house building but in all cases there should be an up-front need to make sure that all houses have adequate facilities, not just schools also shops, health care and parks etc- funded by the property developers’ profits as much as possible. But lobbying and money from developers seems to carry more weight than anything else.

NCYDKM23 · 05/03/2023 21:43

I know this area very well and I'm married to someone whose in-the-know somewhat. Do you know there was a plan to build a new school in the village but it was rejected by local politicians? Do you know plans for much needed infrastructure have been held up because local policiticans refused to sign it off until after the elections later this year because it came hand in hand with (much needed) new housing and they knew it would be like handing votes over to the opposition?

Girasoli · 05/03/2023 21:44

The school thing should hopefully get better in a few years, I'm down on the coast in Sussex and they were going to build a new secondary school in a new development but now they aren't because pupil numbers are falling after a few bulge years.

But in general I agree, if you are going to build a lot of houses you should have to build amenities to go with them...whatever is most needed, could be a GP/row of shops/school/playground/green space etc.

NCYDKM23 · 05/03/2023 21:46

roseopose · 05/03/2023 21:42

I grew up in that area, worked in Crawley for a long time and lived all round West Sussex for my whole life. I totally agree with you, we legged it to a cheaper less crowded part of the country last year and have never looked back. To travel from Southwater to Burgess Hill for school is utterly insane.

Ironic really because the issue in Sussex is that lots of people want to live in these quiet villages in rural areas hence all the housing springing up. You're probably creating the same issue in the quiet area you move to. Youre completely within your rights of course but I do find it strange people believe it's outside forces and nothing to do with them

Minta85 · 05/03/2023 21:46

It’s the same where I am - new, overpriced housing developments being built but no new doctor’s surgeries or schools.

roseopose · 05/03/2023 21:51

NCYDKM23 · 05/03/2023 21:46

Ironic really because the issue in Sussex is that lots of people want to live in these quiet villages in rural areas hence all the housing springing up. You're probably creating the same issue in the quiet area you move to. Youre completely within your rights of course but I do find it strange people believe it's outside forces and nothing to do with them

Show quote history

I see what you mean but personally I don't think we have done this as we bought an older house that had been on the market 6 months and reduced twice, so I assume no one local wanted it. A lot of houses in this village hang about for ages too. I think some areas of the UK will never be as attractive to live in as parts of the SE because of their high levels of deprivation, their reputation as 'less desirable' and lack of opportunity for employment. The latter didn't affect us hence we were able to go. I also think in the SE it's wanting to live in a nice village but still commute to London which you obviously can't do from much of the UK.

Original poster
Firehouse1 · 05/03/2023 21:53

The housing crisis round here seems to be

  1. people moving in from london during the pandemic…. Selling their Putney flats for a million and buying one of these crap houses for less for “village life”

  2. people like my parents, that rattle around a gorgeous 1950s detached house with a large garden that they purchased 20 years ago for like £3000 🤣 (not moaning and they are well within their rights)

there is a real lack of affordable housing and no I don’t mean shared ownership stuff… I mean just 3 bed houses with decent gardens for less than £700k

OP posts:
NCYDKM23 · 05/03/2023 21:58

Firehouse1 · 05/03/2023 21:53

The housing crisis round here seems to be

  1. people moving in from london during the pandemic…. Selling their Putney flats for a million and buying one of these crap houses for less for “village life”

  2. people like my parents, that rattle around a gorgeous 1950s detached house with a large garden that they purchased 20 years ago for like £3000 🤣 (not moaning and they are well within their rights)

there is a real lack of affordable housing and no I don’t mean shared ownership stuff… I mean just 3 bed houses with decent gardens for less than £700k

I agree on the affordable housing. It's an area lots of people want to live in and housing isn't a right like it should be it's seen as investment sadly. Not enough housing has been built to meet the need in the south east and that doesn't help prices either.

You need to ask your local politicians for detail on how they have helped push for new schools to be built in the area though. One of the Southwater conservatives was on Facebook saying he doesn't want a new school as it did him good to leave the village. When he went to school there was space at the outstanding school nearby in Horsham. Now though the reality of his statement is children being shipped off to Burgess Hill.

GuffyTheDustBuster · 05/03/2023 22:12

If you raise it with the mp - he says it's up to the council.

The council say they are obliged to free up land for development because of the govt rules else developers will just gp to the planning inspector and get it passed anyway

More worrying is the fact that we are the first council to block new development because we are going to run out of water...

GodSaveTheClean · 05/03/2023 22:16

Millais and Collyers alumni here. I rarely go back to Horsham as it’s changed beyond all recognition from 20 years ago. Friends who still live there have been bemoaning the lack of school spaces for years.
It’s overdeveloped and will soon join with Crawley; the development along the Old Crawley Road will see to that.

Original poster
Firehouse1 · 05/03/2023 22:19

Yes the water issue is a real worry. A few housing estates have been blocked in recent weeks (for now). Assume this is one reason.

The developers in broadbridge heath saved some land for a new school… of course it never happened. How long til they squeeze another 50 crap houses on it?

Im so frustrated and I want to do something about it.

OP posts:
Original poster
Firehouse1 · 06/03/2023 08:22

And DH has just tried to get a drs appointment… next prebooked one is over two months away. This place is going downhill so fast. Too many people, too many over priced houses and too few drs, schools, places to work etc.

OP posts:
NCYDKM23 · 06/03/2023 09:42

As I understand it its not about “running out of water” it’s about how water use is affecting a key habitat near the South Downs and it’s forcing developers to be “water neutral” so they don’t make it worse. It will be sorted soon and houses will be given the go ahead.

NCYDKM23 · 06/03/2023 09:42

As I understand it its not about “running out of water” it’s about how water use is affecting a key habitat near the South Downs and it’s forcing developers to be “water neutral” so they don’t make it worse. It will be sorted soon and houses will be given the go ahead.

NCYDKM23 · 06/03/2023 09:43

As I understand it its not about “running out of water” it’s about how water use is affecting a key habitat near the South Downs and it’s forcing developers to be “water neutral” so they don’t make it worse. It will be sorted soon and houses will be given the go ahead.

Original poster
Firehouse1 · 06/03/2023 09:47

The houses always get the go ahead. One way or another.

I get the need for houses but I really resent the fact that these houses are so expensive for a tiny plot of land. There are people on wickhurst green that have spent a fortune on houses only to have rather high levels of crime (car handles tried almost every night) and HGVs drive through their tight roads and mess up their grass verges/knock bollards over. It’s really not that desirable… not to mention the school that was promised but never came.

OP posts:
NCYDKM23 · 06/03/2023 12:32

The thing is people want to live in places like Horsham Southwater Broadbridge Heath because they’re well connected and have communities already and so that’s where developers will build. Unless you buy in the middle of know where then you have to assume people will also want to live where you live and when in the middle of nowhere the only way to be sure is to buy all the land up yourself. Someone was moaning about your house being built once and you and your children and grandchildren are the overpopulation that people moan about. Yes we need better infrastructure but there is so much fighting about the houses I don’t imagine there is much money or resource left to focus on schools, etc

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