Dear Residents,

 

A newly revised Planning application for the Mushroom site (DC/26/0266) will be discussed at a meeting in the Village Hall on Tuesday 15th September 2026 at 7.30 pm.

 

The revised/new application has been submitted to Horsham District Council following a request from Thakeham Parish Council after our last Parish meeting, so residents can see the discussion points in full. These include such as the green space provision and ownership, clarity on the boundaries, additional space for housing/units for the Chanctonbury Community Land Trust and Traffic measures including the Thakeham Parish Council  traffic survey.

 

To dispel some of the rumours and misinformation about the site, Thakeham Parish Council have requested that Bellway address some questions and concerns people may have. To this end, Bellway have published a Q&A document and to be transparent, have uploaded it to the Local Planning Authority portal so everyone can view it. The link is below:

 

 

For clarity, Bellway approached Thakeham Parish Council to discuss options for the entire site - not just the part of the site they wished to develop with the 150 homes.

 

The primary concern for Thakeham Parish Council was the future intended use of ALL of the site over the next 5/10 years and how could Thakeham Parish Council mitigate this in the current planning environment laid out by the Government for Local Planning Authorities to follow.

 

Subsequent negotiations by the Clerk (on behalf of Thakeham Parish Council) and Bellway have produced an application and scheme to be debated on Tuesday. No decision has been made by councillors. The negotiations were necessary to understand what was being offered to Thakeham as part of this process. And how to ensure that any offer presented was legal, proper and protected, not just by planning law - but by other legal agreements so the developer could not change or vary and conditions at a later date.

 

The key points that Councillors will be considering alongside the planning application, will be the future of development in Thakeham and the impacts on the residents and the environment. Thakeham Parish Council have not 'chased down' any developers or tried to 'offer up' any concessions - Thakeham Parish Council have 'reacted' to situations and offers proposed to them by Bellway Homes, to understand the meaning, intentions and the potential impacts of these offers - so they can make an informed decision on application DC/26/0266. This decision will be made on Tuesday and relayed to Horsham Disrict Council.

 

We suggest Residents look up the application and that they are free to comment on the application at the Planning Portal by clicking the link below:

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Andrew

Clerk, Thakeham Parish Council