A MAJOR development of 210 new homes at the former Syngenta site in Fernhurst looks set to get the green light.

The re-development – now known as Fernhurst Park – has been a long-running issue for villagers, with a succession of plans submitted by the Comer Group, which bought the old ICI site in September 2003.

There was a local outcry the following month when Comer put forward a proposals for a major redevelopment of more than 370 homes, 90 flats within a residential care building and a 190-room hotel.

That scheme and a succession of proposed redevelopments over the past 12 years all came to nothing – including the most recent proposal for 250 new homes in March last year.

But in the interim, the South Downs National Park Authority has earmarked the site for around 200 homes in its strategic housing land availability assessment and villagers have drawn up Fernhurst Neighbourhood Plan, which concludes the “largest brownfield site in the parish” could deliver 200 new homes as part of a mixed-use development.

A referendum on the village neighbourhood plan was due to be held as The Herald went to press on Wednesday, with every indication it would be voted through by residents.

Once the neighbourhood plan is finalised within the next few weeks, Comer is set to submit a full planning application for 210 new homes to Chichester District Council and the South Downs National Park Authority in the next four to six weeks.

The group’s planning consultants have been in discussion with the neighbourhood plan steering group. The redevelopment could include building a community hall and a shop that would not detract from existing village facilities, and the provision of a community shuttle bus, possibly with a link to residents of the major new development under way at the nearby old King Edward VII Hospital.

Both the pagoda building, where Aspinal of London currently has its headquarters and showroom, and the Longfield site, home to John Nicholson’s Auctioneers and several other companies, will be retained as part of the plan.

Comer representatives have already made a pre-application presentation to Fernhurst Parish Council outlining the proposed scheme for 210 new houses.

Fernhurst Neighbourhood Plan steering committee chairman James Cottam said the main benefit of having the plan would be all future planning applications must comply with it.

The plan supports the use of the old Syngenta site for mixed housing and commercial use, but with the housing element “restricted to approximately 200 dwellings with a range of bedroom sizes and with a significant proportion of affordable homes”.

The assumption is Highfield House will be demolished to make way for the new houses and the plan requires the development should be integrated with the existing settlement.

Fernhurst will receive 25 per cent of the Community Infrastructure Levy payable by the developers and the village will benefit from “significant” spending on infrastructure as a result.

Fernhurst Parish Council chairman Heather Bicknell told The Herald: “Our main concern is for the neighbourhood plan to go through, because that will give us protection over all the village.

“Comer know what’s in the neighbourhood plan and should try and get as close to what we want as possible, so they won’t cause a big upheaval, like the previous ones have.

“The only worrying part is the 407 houses now being built at King Edward VII, meaning it could be an awful lot of new houses at the same time. Hopefully, the Syngenta homes won’t go up that quickly if agreed.

“The referendum is the last step in the process and could be a matter of weeks before the plan is finalised if it is voted through.

“One of the positive things is the promise of bus services. If Syngenta can provide its own bus links to Haslemere station in the morning and evening that would be a very good thing.”