SAVE SOUTHWATER FROM OVERDEVELOPMENT!

I was born in Southwater in 1959 in New Road and I have lived in the village on and off since then. The linear car park was not invented by the M25 it was invented by the A24 through Southwater throughout the whole of summer time every year. There was no village. There was a road with 4 petrol stations a transport cafe a couple of pubs and of course a railway station and an internationally renown brickworks. The vast majority of people protesting against this development live in houses built on those self same fields that I played on in the 60's. "The Brook" off Cedar drive is named after the brook that I dammed and chased after sticklebacks in. If change had not been allowed in the 70's and 80's then Southwater would still have the A24 running through its heart and would not enjoy the lovely village centre that now exists. Additional development is not the work of the devil and should be welcomed and ENGAGED with so that others have the opportunity to live in this beautiful county. When I was a member of the Southwater Schools PTA the issue was not too many people wanting to become involved that was a problem it was the distinct lack of community involvement and I am somewhat afraid that the voice of the "nay" sayers will overpower the quietude of the comfortable and satisfied majority. PLEASE engage with the community, the local and Parish council even with the developers (nothing would discombobulate them as much as an active positive local community) and instead of trying to develop complex ways of saying " we are not NIMBY's" use that energy to make these inevitable changes the best that they can possibly be!

I’ve lived in Southwater for 22 years. In that time I’ve seen a vast increase in the number of homes here. On the whole, that has brought much needed improvement to the infrastructure and amenities. Now, however, we’ve reached a point where yet more development is only going to detract from our quality of life. I choose to live here because it is a village, with woodland, farmland and fields within it and surrounding it. I don’t want it turned into a semi-town, with rush hour traffic jams, fighting for parking places at Lintot Square and CH Station, and other problems that come with overdevelopment. As a community, I believe we must stand up and say enough is enough. Berkeley Homes vision for west of Southwater amounts to a nightmare for existing residents, and neither developers nor HDC should be able to dictate to us the future of our village.

Heres a copy of an email I send HDC today: Dear Mrs Lowe, I recieved yet another letter today, about this developement in Southwater. I do believe I sent you letter regarding this previously, but here are my thoughts on the latest plans. I strongly feel under no circumstances should this be allowed to go ahead, Southwater is a small or should I say "was" a small village and with it growing more and more since I moved into the village, especially the last few years with the development around Ceder Drive the village just cannot sustain this growth any further. I understand people need somwhere to live, but why is it always nice small rural villages suffer at the hands of these developers who only care about money, they don't live here, they don't have the problems associated with the dusruption caused by these deveolopments, the on- going building around Broadbridge Heath only goes to confirm this, with the disruption this is causing along the A24. And another 540 houses and the associated road network this needs, the further disruption to local residents, business and yet "more" traffic right next door to my property is just UNACCEPTABLE. Trying to get a doctors appointment in Southwater now is almost an Impossibility if you need one within a week or two, it took me 3 and a half weeks before I could get a doctors appointment recently, trying to find a parking space in Lintot Square is getting more and more difficult, I had to do 4 circuits of the car park last week before I could get a space I cannot stress this strongly enough "ANY" further development of Southwater Village should NOT be allowed to go ahead, the traffic conjestion trying to get out through the old worthing road is bad enough now during school hours with cars just being dumped here and there while the kids get dropped off at school, the traffic jams through at rush hours is unbelievabl

I have lived in Southwater since 1976 & the village is virtually unrecognisable. It is fast becoming a concrete jungle, a far cry from the many green open spaces & woodland the village used to offer. What will Berkely Homes and HDC offer us and our future generations with the addition of 643 homes? Increased crime, increased traffic congestion in and around the village, increased air pollution, impact on local schools, doctors, hospitals etc, lack of green space for children to play, lack of surrounding countryside for ramblers, dog walkers, cyclists, horse-riders & the like to enjoy. I fail to see any benefit this additional development will bring to the village. KEEP SOUTHWATER GREEN.