Triangle planning campaign has won!

At the District Council Planning Committee meeting, last Thursday, Thornfield's application to build a DIY store on the Triangle car park was REFUSED.

Better still, it was refused on several substantial grounds including loss of leisure land, overdevelopment, loss of landscaping/open space and safety as well as the size and position of the proposed building.

Our thanks and congratulations go to Anne Hotten for organising the petition and the campaign.

She spoke at the meeting and made an impeccable case for refusing the application. Other opponents of the plan who spoke included the consultant acting for Burgess Hill Town Council, the adviser to our local garden centres and our two remaining independent local DIY shops - Upstairs Downstairs and Hassocks Hardware, and the local manager for Focus who said that 39 jobs at this store were at risk from this development.

It is still open to Thornfield to appeal the decision and it will be a few weeks before we know whether they will do so. At this stage it looks as though the campaign against the proposals to build on part of the car park has won.

A big thank you to all of you who helped by signing the petition, collecting signatures, writing and delivering leaflets, making placards and turning up on two cold and wet occasions, to demonstrate to the councillors how much we cared. It was all worthwhile.