Farmer Robert Worsley, who has rejected a £275million offer for his land from housing developers
A farmer has rejected a £275million offer for his land from housing developers wanting to build a new town.
Robert Worsley said he would be ‘doing a massive disfavour’ to the community where he has lived all his life if he ‘took the money and ran’.
The 48-year-old father of two has run 550-acre farm for the last 15 years.
He was approached by agents for housebuilder Mayfield more than two years ago.
Other landowners on adjoining sites in Twineham, near Haywards Heath, West Sussex, are also believed to have been offered large sums.
The multi-million pound potential offer is 100 times the farm’s current value, even though it covers only one-seventh of the proposed 10,000-home development.
Mr Worsley, who has two daughters Anna, 13, and Rebecca, nine, is now battling the proposals, fearing that his local area faces ruin.
He said: 'We are a rural community who don’t want this development, who don’t want to see Sussex ruined.
‘I hope I am speaking for an awful lot of people who would have their quality of life diminished and the enjoyment of the countryside, which is the reason why they live here, diminished too.
'It’s not really about me. It’s about the fact that Sussex is being eroded away. That is the story I would like to tell.
'This presumption that we can just sell Sussex off as if it were gold reserves – we can never get it back.
'Long after I have gone, Sussex will be spoiled. I will be one of the architects of that and that is what I want to resist.
‘I thought the money involved might eclipse a lot of people’s judgement. But not so.’
He is among dozens of residents who form part of the Locals Against Mayfield Building Sprawl (Lambs).
Mr Worsley said he would be ‘doing a massive disfavour’ to the community where he has lived all his life if he ‘took the money and ran’ after being offered £275million for his 550-acre farm in Twineham, West Sussex
Mr Worsley said that the company was pushing the plans by using the argument that the homes would be for the ‘greater good’ of the community. But he argued that the local infrastructure would not be able to cope.
Yesterday Nick Herbert, Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs, echoed Mr Worsley’s concerns.
He accused Mayfield of using ‘bullying’ tactics, and described them as a ‘kite flying exercise by a greedy developer’.
The Mayfield Market Towns website, which says that the area would be transformed into 10,000 homes and schools
Mr Herbert said: ‘The only comments they could possibly have had locally are negative ones. I have not encountered anyone in my constituency who wants me to support this development.
Conservative MP Nick Herbert accused Mayfield of using ‘bullying’ tactics, and described them as a ‘kite flying exercise by a greedy developer’
‘They persist in pursuing this proposal even after it has been rejected by one inquiry after another.’
Mr Herbert added: ‘I understand that landowners have been told by this developer, “You know you might as well give in – it’s going to come anyway so you might as well accept our cheque”.
‘The tactics of this company are really shoddy bullying tactics and it has created a huge amount of local resentment and blighted this area.’
On its website, Mayfield said that the area would be transformed into 10,000 homes, an academy, primary schools and shops.
Yesterday, a spokesman said that the project was in a very early stage and no planning application has been made.
They also confirmed the developer is currently in talks with residents across the districts of Horsham and Mid Sussex.
Lee Newlyn, a director at Mayfield Market Towns, said: ‘There is a huge shortage of housing in this region and we believe that delivering these new homes in the form of a new town, with all the proper infrastructure and facilities in place, is a much more sustainable alternative to add-on development in and around existing towns and villages.
