Photo credit: R French
Barns Green residents urge community to pack the room as council prepared to decide fate of controversial development
Over 500 objections have been lodged against scheme; campaigners say the village’s infrastructure – especially its overstretched sewage network — simply cannot support
Residents of Barns Green are calling on people across the Horsham district to attend a critical planning committee meeting on Tuesday 4th August at 5.30pm at Albery House, RH12 2GB, as a decision looms on an unpopular application to build 68 homes in the heart of the village.
More than 500 letters of objection have already been submitted to Horsham District Council against the application from Miller Homes, making it one of the most fiercely contested planning decisions the area has seen in years.
A special field that is worth more than housing targets
The proposed site is not a patch of unused land. It is the venue for the annual Barns Green Classic Car Meet, which raises tens of thousands of pounds for local causes including St Catherine’s Hospice, and sits directly opposite the village shop and The Queen’s Head pub — two of the community’s most important social and economic hubs. Campaigners say the loss of the field, the increased traffic on Chapel Road, and the pressure on parking around the shop and pub would do lasting damage to village life.
The scheme would also require the removal of an ancient and important hedgerow along the site’s boundary; a habitat for local wildlife and a natural barrier that reduces surface water run-off onto Chapel Road, where flooding is already a recurring problem.
Infrastructure “at breaking point”
The most serious objection concerns sewage capacity. Residents have shown that Barns Green’s wastewater treatment works is already failing, with photographic evidence submitted to the council showing raw sewage discharging from a manhole into Parsons Brook, before flowing on to the River Adur.
Concerns have intensified following news that Southern Water has approached a local landowner to assess land for a pipeline that would divert additional wastewater flows from Itchingfield to the Barns Green facility, on top of the load the new homes would generate. Miller Homes maintains that Southern Water has confirmed adequate capacity exists, most recently in April 2026, but residents say this is simply untrue, and at odds with what they are already witnessing on the ground.
National policy is clear that new development should not be permitted to proceed ahead of the infrastructure needed to support it. Campaigners say this application is a textbook case: a scheme proposed for a site the community’s own Neighbourhood Plan did not identify for development, in a village whose sewage system is already visibly struggling, with a brownfield alternative (a derelict former school site in Itchingfield) sitting unused nearby.
Our voices must be heard
Richard French, Chair of the local residents’ group opposing the application, said: “There is overwhelming evidence that this development should be rejected. We feel that we are not being listened to and the very clear evidence we are presenting is being ignored. It’s simple, there is no capacity for the extra sewage.”
Ben Shire, landlord of The Queen’s Head, said the development would fundamentally change the character of the village: “This development will destroy the rural nature of the village. My customers will be staring into a housing estate that belongs in a town. The field opposite the pub is essential to this village, not just for the Car Meet, but for the nature of the village itself.”
A village already doing its share
Residents point out that Barns Green is not opposed to new housing in principle. The Parish’s recently adopted Neighbourhood Plan already provides for significant new housing on sites the community identified and supported, including the derelict former school site in Itchingfield. Nearby Sumners Fields, a 32-home development completed in the last few years, is cited by campaigners as a cautionary tale: homes standing unsold, “affordable” units priced beyond the reach of local people, and promised sustainable features unmet, with some properties reportedly running on diesel generators due to a lack of grid connection.
Have your say
The application will be considered by the planning committee on 4th August, and campaigners are urging as many people as possible – residents and non-residents alike – to attend the meeting in person to show the strength of feeling.
“Please take the time to come along and continue to object and make your feelings known,” said Mr French. “There will be many passionate people in the room, which we expect to be packed out, desperate to get the right decision.”
Meeting details: Date: Tuesday 4th August 2026 Time: 5.30pm Venue: Albery House, RH12 2GB
