Crawley Borough Council says no to Center Parcs

Charlotte Owen
, 21 October 2022
Crawley Borough Council says no to Center Parcs
Tree canopy © Mark Hamblin 2020VISION

By Jess Price

Conservation Officer

Sussex Wildlife Trust is delighted that Crawley Borough Council has stated its unanimous opposition to the proposal for a new Center Parcs holiday village in Oldhouse Warren. We have been campaigning with others against this monstrous proposal for over a year and it is fantastic to see local councillors publically supporting our stance.

The motion passed at their full council meeting on Wednesday 19 October said:

Crawley Borough Council states its objection to the proposal, announced last year by Center Parcs, to construct a 'holiday village' comprising up to 900 holiday lodges, a restaurant and swimming complex, across 553 acres of Worth Forest immediately to the south of Maidenbower, in the area known as Oldhouse Warren.

In doing so, this Council requests the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Sustainability to write to both Center Parcs and Mid-Sussex District Council, on behalf of the Council’s entire membership, setting out Crawley’s concerns about such a change of use of this site, and supporting the environmental concerns that have been highlighted by the Sussex Planning for Nature Group, which is made up of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, the RSPB, the Woodland Trust, CPRE Sussex and the Sussex Ornithological Society.

Oldhouse Warren is ancient woodland, an irreplaceable habitat, that is protected under current planning guidance. Part of Worth Forest, this area has been a haven for wildlife for centuries, possible millennia. This rich environment will be destroyed by Center Parcs’ proposals and we must do everything we can to resist it.

Although any planning application for the site would be considered and determined by Mid Sussex District Council, we still think Crawley Borough Council’s position is important. Perhaps they can persuade MSDC to follow suit?

This decision is a fantastic step in the right direction, but the threat from Center Parcs remains. Sussex Wildlife Trust will continue to defend Oldhouse Warren from development, working with the Planning for Nature Group and the Protect Oldhouse Warren local campaign group until this damaging Center Parcs proposal is completely removed or refused.

Leave a comment

Comments

  • Lorna Rowney-Smith:

    Crawley Borough Council is to be commended for taking a stance against Center Parc’s development plan in Worth Forest. It seems extraordinary that with legal targets set by Boris Johnson’s government to reverse the decline in our biodiversity, there is still no joined up thinking in planning and that a development of this nature should even be put forward. It absolutely stinks.

    28 Oct 2022 17:44:00

  • Rosemary Stone:

    I am wondering whether any of those who are opposing this scheme have ever visited Center Parcs. I am in my 70s and have been to both Woburn and Longleat on several occasions. We have seen weasels, deer, hares and many different bird species that one does not see on a regular basis. The sites are beautifully kept with no sign of litter anywhere because Center Parcs are very dedicated to preserving the natural environment and recycling waste from the chalets. When the scheme would create around 1500 jobs excluding the building it seems ridiculous to turn it down. I read somewhere that someone referred to Center Parcs as a trashy theme park. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nearly everyone I know who visits is a professional person and suggesting that we would want to spend regular breaks at a trashy theme park is insulting. In all my visits I have never seen any bad behaviour and it is most gratifying to see all generations of families engaging in sporting and other activities together. How can that be a bad thing?

    02 Feb 2023 19:08:00

Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1782957363.2680 [906] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1782957363.30040.0324Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1782957363.30050.0001Server address: 216.73.217.103
1782957363.30060Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1782957363.30060Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/crawley-borough-council-says-no-to-center-parcs
    [s] => crawley-borough-council-says-no-to-center-parcs
    [1] => crawley-borough-council-says-no-to-center-parcs
)
1782957363.30090.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782957363.3020.001 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1782957363.30420.0023 [1] SELECT locationID FROM swt_shop_tax_locations WHERE locationIsHome=1 LIMIT 1
1782957363.30620.0019INSERT INTO swt_shop_cart(memberID,locationID,currencyID,cartPricing,cartProperties) VALUES(NULL,'1',47,'standard','[]')
1782957363.3710.0648 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22503487
1782957363.37180.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22503487
1782957363.37250.0007 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-07-02 01:56:00' AND saleTo>'2026-07-02 01:56:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1782957363.37390.0014 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='crawley-borough-council-says-no-to-center-parcs')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-02 01:56:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1782957363.37740.0035 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1782957363.37810.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=2910 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-02 01:56:00'
1782957363.37940.0012 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1782957363.38020.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1782957363.38110.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=40 LIMIT 1
1782957363.38180.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=118 LIMIT 1
1782957363.38230.0005 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=247 LIMIT 1
1782957363.38290.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=32 LIMIT 1
1782957363.38370.0008Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782957363.38470.001 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1782957363.38620.0015 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-02 01:56:00' AND postSlug='crawley-borough-council-says-no-to-center-parcs'
1782957363.40840.0222Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782957363.40910.0007 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1782957363.42210.013Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1782957363.42250.0004 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1782957363.42350.001 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1782957363.42520.0017 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782957363.42870.0035 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782957363.430.0013 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782957363.43220.0022Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1782957363.43230 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782957363.43310.0009 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782957363.43360.0005 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782957363.43650.003 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782957363.43760.0011 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782957363.43850.0009 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782957363.44160.0031 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782957363.44260.001 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1782957363.44490.0024 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1782957363.44540.0005Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782957363.44570.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='16' LIMIT 1
1782957363.44660.0009Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1782957363.44710.0005 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='crawley-borough-council-says-no-to-center-parcs')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-02 01:56:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1782957363.44930.0022 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1782957363.44980.0005 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782957363.45350.0037Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1782957363.45460.0011 [2] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=2910 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1782957363.50870.0541 [2] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1782957363.51020.0014Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782957363.51150.0014 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='16' LIMIT 1
1782957363.51320.0016 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1782957363.51430.0011 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1782957363.51530.001 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782957363.51780.0025 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782957363.52290.005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782957363.52750.0047 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782957363.52870.0012 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1782957363.52960.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1782957363.53010.0005 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782957363.53280.0027 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782957363.53320.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782957363.53520.0019 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782957363.53860.0035 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1782957363.53950.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1782957363.54010.0006 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782957363.54260.0025 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782957363.54330.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782957363.54520.0019 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782957363.54750.0023 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1782957363.54820.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1782957363.54860.0005 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782957363.55060.002 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782957363.55440.0038 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782957363.55660.0022 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782957363.55820.0017Request time: 0.2928
1782957363.55820Process time: 0.2927
1782957363.55830Memory: 1.6339