How to respond to Eton's PR campaign
This week, Eton launched a PR campaign to garner support for its plans to build a huge new town at North Barnes Farm in East Chiltington. Via leaflets and letters, locals have been invited to a series of “consultation” events with the promise that they will be helping to “shape plans” for the massive 3,000-house development.
Our position remains – as always – that people should not attend these meetings. Developer-led consultations are designed to project an image of “community engagement” and are merely a tick box exercise which only benefits them. Instead, people should join our campaign & follow our guidance on how to respond to official Council-led consultations once Eton has submitted a planning application.
Eton’s marketing material has made every effort to present North Barnes as if it were a local initiative aimed at solving local housing issues. However, make no mistake: Eton College owns the site and it is Eton which is planning to build this town – over 60 miles away from where the £65,000-a-year private school is located in Berkshire.
Remember - the North Barnes scheme has already been REJECTED by Lewes District Council which deemed it “unsuitable and undeliverable”.
Dates for your diary:
September 5: Eton is holding a North Barnes “consultation day” at Plumpton Racecourse. PLEASE DO NOT ATTEND! Instead, please join us OUTSIDE THE RACECOURSE (at the Ashurst Lane entrance) from 10am-5pm. We especially want a big crowd from 11am-noon. We aim to make it clear we do not support the North Barnes scheme.
September 12: Please join us for our public Information Day from 10am-2.30pm at All Saints Church Annex, Plumpton.
Pick up a sign
Roadside placards are very effective. If you live in a prominent position on a well-used road, you can request a placard via our website or collect one in person from outside #6 or #13 Hollycroft, East Chiltington, BN7 3AZ from Sunday, August 30 onwards. Feel free to take a placard for a neighbour or anyone who is in a busy roadside location. We need as much visibility as possible. If you think you can display a large sign or 2.4m banner, please get in touch via the placard request form.
Donations
As our costs mount, we are actively seeking donations. If you can, please donate when you pick up a placard. Also see the Donate page on our website on how else to support us.
Volunteers needed
We need more volunteers. There will be lots of activity over the coming months and we need support in a number of areas. Please email donturbanisethedowns@gmail.com if you can help with jobs such as:
• making roadside placards
• delivering leaflets
• helping at information events
• handing out flyers
Speculation, opportunism and profit
North Barnes is NOT a local initiative in any way. All the companies involved are based in London or Eton. Eton bought the 450-acre North Barnes site more than 27 years ago with the long-term aim of seeking planning permission when the time was right. Nothing could be more advantageous to Eton than the current housing crisis and all their claims that they want to help solve the crisis should be viewed with the utmost scepticism.
What’s at stake
The 450-acre North Barnes site is a nature-rich, deeply rural area in unspoilt Sussex countryside right on the border of the South Downs National Park. Local residents and multiple authorities and organisations are fiercely opposed to the scheme on the grounds of landscape and environment impact, the loss of productive farmland and major concerns over traffic and water resources. (Please see our website for more info.)
Lewes District Council excluded the site from its draft local plan after receiving an unprecedented 2,600 objections from our supporters during its consultation process.
Comparisons with Steyning
In its letter to local residents (addressed to “Dear Neighbour”), Eton says they have been “inspired” by towns such as Steyning. It’s worth noting that Steyning dates back to the 7th century and has grown organically over more than 1,200 years but is STILL some 500 homes smaller than the development they’re planning. The average house price in Steyning is £510,000 and less than 10% of the town’s housing stock is affordable housing.
We dispute all Eton's claims that the development will benefit the area or provide truly affordable housing. The site is totally unsuitable for a large-scale development and totally lacking in the necessary infrastructure. Decades of construction work and thousands of extra vehicles generating millions of extra journeys each year, will create traffic hell.
We urge you to ignore invitations to engage with Eton’s North Barnes development – either at their Consultation Day at Plumpton Racecourse or via their online “community webinars.” The correct time to voice opinion is through the official Council-led consultations that will follow the submission of a formal planning application. We will be advising on how best to respond at that time.