West Sussex County Times today reports: “The applicant, Milwood Designer Home and Medical Centre Developments (MDC), have amended plans to reduce the number of homes from 24 to nine following negotiations with the council.”
Is this true? Surely not!
Many of our SPANGLE members have voiced their concerns over the past months (when it all went quiet) that a “dodgy deal” has been done between Horsham District Council, district councillors and the developers. A quick fix deal will make “this problem” go away. HDC could move on. Medical Centre Developers get to build their new facility, with rent guaranteed by the NHS. Certain councillors will no doubt get to bask in the glory of getting their name above the door of a new health centre. Dr Whitehead will get his kickback (see below) from the sale of the former bungalow surgery back in 1984. And the Diocese, which has been behind this entire scheme all along, gets its pound of flesh. In fact, it will most likely pick up a couple of million off the MDC and the housing developers.
However, such negotiations are unlawful if they lead to an informal agreement that the Council will support a specific revised application. Such agreements are not permitted under planning law as “each case must be judged on its merits”.
What was the nature of the ‘negotiations’ between the council and the applicant? The press article suggests that Horsham District Council is happy to view the revised scheme favourably.
Months on…
- Our requests under the Freedom of Information Act on Horsham District Council to find out why Mill Stream has not (cannot?) be reopened have been stalled.
- Our complaints to the NHS’ Clinical Commissioning Group to understand why our patient data and NHS branding is being used to promote private housing developments have gone unanswered.
- Our demand for clarification for Dr Whitehead’s position on the CCG and potential conflicts of interest in this matter are still not resolved.
Why are the authorities stalling and hiding the truth from us? What discussions and deals have been done?
