**Moved from comments bin to main article** -Jez.

I think the Horley Master Plan is a bad idea for the following reasons:-

1) The area being built on has historically been subject to flooding and may flood again. During the major flood event in 1968 there were 2000 homes evacuated in Surrey because of flooding, 600 of these were in Horley. Horley was again hit by flooding in 2000/2001 although on a lesser scale. This highlighted how vulnerable Horley is to flooding being bordered by rivers and streams that are prone to flooding to the north, east and west. One of the areas designated for development is within a few yards of the Burstow Stream which is one of the key flooding rivers.
The developers say that they will be raising the new houses up above the highest likely flood level, but this will be no concellation if people can not get in or out of their house because it is flooded right up to the front door.

2) Horley as a whole could be effected by more flooding. The drainage system around Horley (utilising the River Mole and Burstow Stream) works effectively only in the low and average rainfall years. Many people in Horley accept that after a certain point in the autumn they can not in an average year walk to the end of their gardens because ground is saturated. This continues until the mid spring when the ground dries up for the summer. Any major disturbance to the area which effects the drainage system could effect not only the areas where the building is taking place but Horley as a whole. Placing a greater load on the natural drainage system (by building on land that previously absorbed water) could endanger large areas of the town.
The developers will have to meet the Environment Agencys requirement that the surface water run-off rate from the sites being developed will not exceed the green field rate. However they have also admitted that although for their plans to work the ground water level needs to be below certain level they have not carried out any investigations into ground water level on the sites they intend to build on (Nov 2004). The poor natural drainage in Horley leaves serious concerns. It might be possible that because of the special local conditions they could meet the environment agency requirements but still endanger Horley.

3) Local road infrastructure is inadequate to cope.

Roads - The plan to build 2600 homes (with an average number of parking spaces of 1.5 per household) indicates an expected increase in the number of locally owned cars by 3900. It is said that the long term increase in traffic levels (if mitigated) will be insignificant. How could this be true? Because they are anticipating that people will use the Fastway bus instead of their cars. Will this happen? Will people who are wealthy enough to afford brand new houses in Surrey and therefore wealthy enough to afford several cars decide that instead of using them it would be better to use the bus? The likelihood is that congestion will be seriously increased.

Hospitals - Anyone who has had to use East Surrey Hospital recently (and can afford a car) will have realised how difficult it is to park there. Its chaos. Can you imagine how distressing it being called to the hospital in an emergency driving round and round the car park trying to park. Certainly the developers will be asked to provide a substantial sum of money towards local infrastructure projects but will the local councils give the money to an NHS hospital? How could they? Their duty to local taxpayers does not include hospitals facilities. This is where the system breaks down because the money provided by the developers is very unlikey to get to the local issues that need addressing.

Comment by local person — 2/14/2005

As Derek pointed out to get the site found we have to include phrases in the post headings. I would like a list of topics pertaining to the horley master plan that we would like to address.

One particular problem that i have is the parking at the East Surrey Hospital. There is already no parking there at all - it’s even very limited for the staff (I know because my wife works there). The hospital, in its wisdom has decided that the answer lies in putting the price up! The cost to park is now £1 PER HOUR!! So if you are going to get sick or visit someone who is, make sure you check your bank balance first! Often there’s no parking to be had even at that price. It adds insult to injury that with the shutting of Crawley Hospital that the Crawley people now have to pay more to get their treatment or visit their friends and relatives but they have to pay an extortionate parking fee also!

How much worse is the East Surrey Parking problem going to get if a further 2,600 homes are built - (with thousands more planned in the future).

Everyone is welcome to express their views, pro, against, happy or angry. You can post anonymously if you wish, using a nickname, if you prefer. Also the email field does not have to be filled, nor does the website information box.

The comments are moderated by myself and anyone else that I give editing rights to. Note that this means that your comments have a lag of displaying after you post them. All comments apart from spam (advertising other sites such as porn and viagra) are welcome as I said, but may edit swearing and inflammatory comments.

If quoting please publish source where possible (just copy and paste the link from the site you found it or the newspaper name).

I have asked Derek Washington to become an editor to be able to post topics if he wishes. (If you want your name removed from any of your previous comments or mine, just say and I will remove). I would ideally like some more people to volunteer and I’m looking in your direction, Jon! There’s no obligation to however, but it will lighten the load of those that do (namely me at the moment) and if someone just wants to email their writing to me to publish then that’s also fine.

**ADDED** Photos and other images can also be posted on the site if anyone has anything they want to show.

Feel free to have a look around and make some comments.

All that you need to know about the Horley Master Plan