Liberal Democrat moves to get the Conservative controlled Mid Sussex District Council to rescind its previous decision, to dispose of land at the Triangle Leisure Centre in order to build a DIY store, were narrowly defeated at an extraordinary meeting of the District Council held last Wednesday. The meeting was specially called by Liberal Democrats to discuss the issues around the selling off of council land at the Triangle.

The Council report for the meeting admits that the reason for the sale of the Triangle land is “to maximise receipts” and uses illogical legal advice on the basis it is important to separate planning issues from the sale of the land, but goes out of its way to highlight the financial reasons for selling the land without looking at the potential leisure requirements of what was a site allocated for leisure use – land that forms part of the current leisure centre car park.

The proposals directly conflict with the Council’s polices on promoting Burgess Hill Town Centre, and ensuring leisure facilities at the Triangle have the capacity to cope with an expanding town. The Council seems to be putting cash receipts for Mid Sussex ahead of the amenity of local residents and the needs of the town. The proposal would significantly increase parking and congestion problems in the area and obstruct access by school children to St Paul’s Catholic College. The Council is therefore pre-empting its own draft Core Strategy which will have to take into account expected growth in leisure needs for the area.

Whilst the Council has a duty to get the best possible value for any land it disposes of, it is currently still retains the ownership of the land, so it has the power to decide what use it is put to, irrespective of any planning issues. The decision to dispose of this land is therefore perverse given the current and future likely needs of the Triangle site for leisure use. It also provides a negative pointer for other Council owned land which could be declared surplus to requirements and sold off without debate.

Meanwhile all political parties on Burgess Hill Town Council have already stated their opposition to the proposals, and their willingness to take every necessary step to object, including a possible referral to the Secretary of State for the Environment if the Council appears to approve the application when it has a conflict of interest.