ssssssissss SPRING2OO5 Century";"Horshom Folklore"; "The Developmentof FIR5T ?T YEAR5OF THE the Wealdenfronworks in Tudor Times";"D-Day in West Sussex";"Crisis in Forming"ond "The Sussex RUDoWTCKPRE5ERVATION Wildfife Trust". There hove beenof leost two "Any Questions?" sessionsas well os tolks by Society socrEw members like Molcolm Froncis ond Joe ond Chris John Cozens Griffin. Almost without exceptionthe speokershove concern of the This y€rlr the Society, in the traditionol senseof being been outstondingly good ond o major high stondord 2L yeors old, comes of age. fts seed wos sownat on presenf Committee is to mointainthot of speaker or subject emergencypublic meeting held in the villoge in the without being too repetitive eorly 80's to voice concern obout o ProPosedhigh motter. density housingdevelopment in The Hoven.At thot Society commentson all meeting the orguments put forword by Horshom ft is well-knownthat the the villoge,as we District Councilplanning officers were destroyed by pfanningopplications affecting where it is merited concernedvillogers, porticularly Ston Smith, and the believethot proise is os importont thot we proposolwos subseguentlyobondoned- A concernfor as is blome where it is deserved.ft follows like Foxholesond the proper control of locolbuilding development hos hoveconsidered major developments thot beenot the f orefront of the Society's qctivities ever Churchmqn'sMeodow os well os the little closes applications since. have been developedrecenlly and the the relevant to individuolhouses only. From on opplicotion new The fnauguralMeeting of the Society was held at the soon after the Society's foundotion to build the current'hot pototo' RudgwickHall on 26rh June, t984. Ruth Word, housesopposite Crouchers to of the Skodo Choirmon of the Federation of Sussex Amenity of village planning,the redevelopment to be objective ond to Societies,outlined the purposeof omenitysocieties in garagesite, we have tried os well os the generol ond Ston Smith explained how one might consider the needs of villogers operate in Rudgwick.Only two people took the oppeoronce of the villoge. opportunity to leavethe holl in token of disagreemenf been carried out and the remoinder ogreedo drought Constitutionand Not oll the Society'soctivities hove 'fhe yeors it has on initiol Committee.Threeof originolmembers of as much in the public eye. Aver the the PorishCouncil on thot Committee remdn, os enthusiostic os ever, and colloboroted,for example,with SussexCounty communitysupport for the Society hos alwoysbeen at villoge cleor-up doys ond with West of the a very high level. Councilin the updoting ond refurbishment troditionol woodensignposts oround Rudgwick.We orgadzed by notionol A mojor feoture of the Society from the beginninghos hove co-operoted in surveys - Protectionof beenits two public meetings, onein the Spring after bodies such os the Society for the of Borns"- ond the Annual GenerolMeeting ond the other in the Ancient Buildings"'DomesdoySurvey - os the Autumn.At the f irst meeting,in November,L984, Alan by more regionol organizations such of the churchyord Mitchell spokeon "Trees in British 6ordens".A rondom Monumentolfnscription Survey and Barboro selectionof topics since is: "The Architecturol History carried out by Society members R'oy Group.We of West Sussex"; "Rudgwickin the Nineteenth Foutley for the Sussex Fomily History RUDGWICKPRESERVATION SOCIETY SPRING 2005 Pase 1 respond,often in considerable detoil, to notionolond to all thosewho regulorly or occosionollycontribute locolgovernment forword plonning schemes. Since its memories,noture notes, historicol perspectives ond inougurotionthe Societyhos been resPonsible, first the hugevoriety of itemsthot mokeup o typicol issue. through Ston Smith ond more recently through Geoff Ayres,for the locolport of the West Sussex Althoughthe Society'sfounders re-olized the volueof it is not likelythot guidedwolks Progromme ond monyof its leodersond the newsletterfrom thebeginning, supportersore SocietYmembers. they envisogedbecoming publishers. Although many similorgroups publish pomphlets like the occosionol fn oddition,we hoveolwoys tried to work offerings from the pen of Alon Siney, f ew have colloborotivelywith locolcommerciol orgonizotions. producedChristmos cords or onythingos successful An exomplefrom the eorly doysis o meetingheld ond importontos DionoChotwin's book on the timber- with RudgwickBrickworks, locol residentsond fromedhouses of the villoge.There is still o demqnd counciffors ond other interestedporties to resolve for copiesof this outstondingpiece of resurch, problemscreated by fumesfrom the works,whilewe whichis wellon its woyto becomingo stsndordtext. ore currentlytrying hord to obtain relioble informotionfrom the Co-operotiveGroup obout their f must thonk all membersof the Societyond, plonsfor the two villogestores they own. porticularly,of its Committeefor whot has b'een ochieyedin the the post ?t years.f om sure thot The Society'snewsletter hos beeno feoture of our duringits next 2t yeorsthe Societywill do even octivitiesfrom the beginning.Under Leslie Howkins' better whot it hos olwoysdone very well ond thot editorship if hos longbeen regardedss oneof the developmentsos unexPectedos Diono'sbook will toke best in the Countyond our thonks ore dueto himond the Societyf orwordto newf ieldsof success. 2. 28,000each year or 560,000over 20 years. MATTERS 3. 32,000each year or 640,000over 20 years.(see PLANNING diagramNo.1 on page4) Stan Smith In the draft plan, development is allocated across nine The two We are witnessingthe largest housingdevelopment plans regions, being areas of similar character. Coast and the sincethe planningsystem was establishedin 1947. lt is a Sub-Regionsfor Sussex are the Sussex matterof great concem, with so many changesas a result GatwickDiamond. (see diagram No.2). period now begun of the upheavalcreated by ptanninglegislation, and is so At the time of writing, a consultation has the Regional complicated,we will endeavourto make sense of it all. First and will continueto the 15th April. In July which option of all the West Sussex County Council has published its Assemblywill presentto Central Govemment publish of plans for its last StructurePlan for the County as a whole, it recommends.The Assemblywill then Part Two targets and for HorshamDistrict in particular. The Plan will be br the Plan,when there will be an allocationof housing - possible to the periodup to 2016,and requires46,500 housesplanned to each District Authority at this stage it will be Public ficrthe County,whilst Horsham Districtis requiredto build see which towns will be affected. Next here will be a 9,335new houses. Enquiry when it is hoped both the C.P.R.E. and the As far as Rudgwickis @ncerned,it is proposedto build 80 Federationof Sussex Amenity Societieswill be invited to housesin ourVillagewhich we have stronglyopposed. Old comment. settlements like Rudgwick are worthy of special protection To clariff these complicatedplans firr future development, page since they have a long historical and architectural we have producedthese two illustrateddiagrams on importance. Apart from our ConservationArea, we have 4. (Theoriginals are in colourand suppliedby SEERA) more than 90 timber-framedhouses, all of which are listed.. The most intensiveareas in descendingorder are:- One consolationis that Lynwick Street has been excluded from any future plans. We must congratulateHorsham 1, Reading,Slough & Basingstoke DistrictCouncil in its effortsto consultas widely as possible 2. (a) Milton Keynes & Aylesbury, (b) Coastal Strip so that everyonehas an opportunityb commentat eacfi (Ashbrd b southampton) stageof planningdevelopment. We mustacknowledge that 3. (a) Woking,Guildficrd & Reigate,(b) Chatham& tre oistric Councilhas completeda very difficultbrief. Maidstone' The CountyCouncil has completedits iast StructurePlan, 4' oxbrd & Crawley and the Regional Assembly will assurne these Crawleyis definedas a Sub{egional StrategyArea which responsibilitiesihicir will set houling targAs and planning straddlespart of East and VvestSussex. lt is difficultto fiamarvork.furthe whole of the Soutn gist Regionbr hg commentsince there is no defined detailed development twenty years 2006 - 2026. Three options are being plan except that it is proposedto provide 1,500 to 2,000 - consideredbr the levelof growth:- dwellingseach year between2006 2028. This so-called 1. The lowest option is 25,500 homes each year, diamondcontains two importantmeans of transpolt,narnely equivalentto sto,ooo over 20 years. crhis ia the the A23 (T) and the railwayboth runningfrom Brightonto RUDGWICKPRESERVATION SOCIEry SPRING2OO5 Page 2 transportis readilYavailable. Before any development takes place, the Regional BoynordsStotion Assemblywill have to make provisionfor the infrastructure - This arficle is based on a leaflef given out by the presenf to servea plannedhousing programme transport,schools' of Sfation af their oPenday on 5th August health facilities,water and waste disposal etc. \A/iththe owners Baynards Rudgwick Parish Church Appeal. Our transferof much of the work of CrawleyHospital to Redhill' 2001 as parf of the See the walks it is relevantto point out that for some years there has been thanks to Fraser and Linda Clayton. Sfa.fion a €mpaign to build a new hospital- this now becomes programme(page t2) for a visit fo Baynards urgentto serve an expandingpopulation and it is relevant ond6uildford, to ask - who PaYs? Thisroilwoy line, which rqn between Horshom It must be pointed out that developmenton