MSDC To Install Temporary £99k 'Urban Park' On Former Martlets Hall Site In Burgess Hill

Mid Sussex District Council's Cabinet have agreed to spend £99.7k of tax-payers money on a temporary 'Urban Park' on the site of the former Marlets Hall while they wait for NewRiver Retail to pull their finger out and do the long-awaited shopping centre redevelopment that we've been waiting a decade for!



The cabinet papers state that the 'Urban Park' could be in place for only six months before needing to be removed, but this didn't deter the Conservatives from giving the project the green-light, conveniently with less than 11 months to go until the next local elections.

At the meeting held on Monday 6th June, there was another proposal on the table from Burgess Hill Town Council which MSDC could have chosen to fund instead, but they gave the town council's £47k scheme little thought at all - which is a shame as it was the town council who proposed to bring this bit of land back into use as a temporary measure over a year ago! Of course, you dont win votes mid-term dear readers!



It's funny how MSDC can suddenly get their hands on £99.7k for a temporary Urban Park, but won't spend any money on adapting the entrance to Station Road Car Park to solve the McDonald's roundabout congestion crisis!

NewRiver Retail are not thought to be contributing a penny towards the Urban Park as of writing, yet the cabinet members stated how they are looking forward to working with the Martlets part-time Centre Manager on the scheme and to organise events on the land - sounds like a lot of work, and it'll cost.



If MSDC hadn't been so hasty as to demolish the Martlets Hall without a guarantee that NewRiver would build something in its place, we'd never have been in this mess and the town would still have an entertainments venue!

At the end of the day..... at least Mid Sussex District Council are finally going to do something on the site, but the timing, the cost, and the lack of investment from NewRiver themselves is very frustrating.

The full report for the scheme can be downloaded here: https://bit.ly/3avvhIV