21st October 2025

Historic Triumph for the Say No To Cuck-stye campaign

Against all the odds the Cuck-stye plan was rejected by Mid Sussex councillors, who in a highly unusual move, voted against a strong recommendation from senior planning officers.

Despite officials mounting a concerted effort with last minute legal advice to members of the MSDC District Planning Committee, councillors voted eight to four, to turn down the plans for 1,450 houses merging the villages of Ansty and Cuckfield.

It was refused due to the impact on the countryside and the location of the giant site.

“Thanks to a huge community campaign over the last three years and nine months we have been able to commission a range of expert reports showing this is not a suitable site,” said Simon Stokes, Chair of Ansty & Staplefield Parish Council.

“So this is absolutely the right outcome. The council has properly applied the basic planning principle that new development must be sustainably located and plan based – this site was rejected in the council’s own District Plan process.

The council has already added other more sustainable locations to meets its need for new homes which we know are desperately needed,” he added.

Both Cuckfield District Councillor Malcolm Avery and his colleague Councillor Jim Knight, spoke out passionately in favour of the Say No to Cuck-stye campaign.

“It is important that we protect and uphold the principles of the District Plan and this will protect the community from these plans and other speculative developments coming forwards in the coming months,” he said.

It is now likely that Fairfax, who revealed they have been working on the planned development for seven years will go to Appeal in the next six months. “We are disappointed that the committee chose not to follow their officer’s professional recommendation,” said a spokesperson.

The countryside charity CPRE strongly backed the campaign throughout and were also highly critical of the Fairfax plan for a so-called ‘Garden Community’. “

Dropping thousands of new residents into the middle of countryside, away from key infrastructure and public transport links is not good planning,” said Paul Steedman, Director of CPRE Sussex.

“It just creates landscape sprawl, while harming the natural landscape and failing to deliver enough affordable housing,” he added.

Cuckfield Parish councillor Steve Oversby-Powell, one of the keynote speakers, admitted he was not sure how the vote would go. “The Cuck-stye proposal was rightfully left out of the MSDC District Plan, but for various technical reasons the legally binding plan has not yet been adopted. The developer attempted to exploit this temporary situation, but thankfully most of the councillors listened to our arguments,” said Cuckfield Parish councillor Steve Oversby-Powell.

“It does astonish me the lengths we have to go to for common sense to prevail,” he added.

Next steps are now actively under consideration and there are many key challenges facing the campaign in the coming months.

“It was a great moment for the whole community and I was delighted by the enthusiastic banner-waving support we had on the day,” said another keynote speaker, Giles King, Chair of the Cuckfield Society.

“Some big challenges lie ahead as we re-group with our experienced planning consultants and legal team, as we need to reinvigorate our fundraising efforts to ensure we have the right resources in place,” he added.

A public meeting and a number of fundraising events are now in the pipeline and will aim to re-energize the campaign as it moves into its final phase next year.