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Supporting people and communities

A fresh vision for Horsham District

Supporting people and communities

Our District is a great place to live and everyone deserves to benefit. We’ll provide help in tough times and build communities where people can flourish and have fun.

Council Plan Priorities 2023-2027

Click on each priority to see specific actions, goals and targets in our Annual Plan for 2024-2025 below.

  1. Help people through the cost of living crisis.
  2. Better understand the needs of our whole community to deliver services that support people to live long, active lives.
  3. Improve access to affordable housing and community services.
  4. Build closer ties with all our housing partners.
  5. Improve vulnerable residents’ access to benefits.
  6. Work with partners to ensure our District continues to be a safe place to live and work.
  7. Create safe spaces for our children to grow and play.
  8. Invest in local arts and leisure and foster civic pride.
  9. Improve access to sports for under-represented groups.

Read the Annual Plan for 2023-2024

Annual Plan 2024-2025

  1. Help people through the cost of living crisis.
    • Hold a series of community events to understand what community initiatives could be delivered to improve people’s quality of life.
    • Continue to support working age and pension age claimants on Council Tax Support with up to £195 off their Council Tax bill.
  2. Better understand the needs of our whole community to deliver services that support people to live long, active lives.
    • Investigate the demography of the District using health datasets, allowing us to provide improved health outcomes by shaping our wellbeing offer to the needs of our community.
    • Initiate conversations with partners to better understand the needs of older residents in Horsham District.
    • Issue £1.3m Disabled Facilities and Home Repair Assistance grants to help people live in their own homes.
    • Strengthen the understanding of our communities and workforce through collecting robust equality data and utilising it to inform future decision making.
    • Maximise the Health and Wellbeing offer by working in collaboration with Community Services and Sports Development.
    • Undertake a review of the Community Services function to ensure it continues to make Horsham District a place where people can flourish and have fun for the long term.
    • Develop and launch a People’s Budget: a designated fund which residents can decide to use for the priorities that matter to them.
  3. Improve access to affordable housing and community services.
    • Deliver new affordable housing units on Council land at Duke’s Square and London Road through Horsham District Homes.
    • Work with Registered Provider partners to identify and secure alternative temporary accommodation, reducing reliance on bed and breakfast.
    • Seek out and use grant funding from the Government and West Sussex County Council to provide more accommodation for homeless people.
    • Enable residents to access private sector housing through the provision of affordable housing deposits.
    • Explore and investigate providing additional housing to meet local need through a small development of energy efficient, sustainable modular homes for homeless households moving on to permanent accommodation.
    • Explore the options to bring more long-term empty properties back into use.
  4. Build closer ties with all our housing partners.
    • Explore options with Saxon Weald to increase provision of larger properties in the District.
  5. Improve vulnerable residents’ access to benefits.
    • Expand the Low Income Family Tracker (LIFT) system to further enable residents to access over £0.5million of unclaimed benefits in Horsham District.
    • Drive forward LIFT projects, including preparing households for Universal Credit migration, in partnership with Citizens Advice, and explore employment support for those with low barriers to work.
  6. Work with partners to ensure our District continues to be a safe place to live and work.
    • Develop and scope the feasibility of introducing a mobile air quality monitoring station.
    • Improve the ability to report crimes, such as anti-social behaviour and shoplifting through the roll-out of the DISC system.
    • Establish a ‘Neighbourhood Networks’ pilot scheme to create a network of social interaction and culture of residents talking to / helping each other.
  7. Create safe spaces for our children to grow and play.
    • Provide new children’s play facilities at Bartholomew Way, Holbrook East.
    • Deliver major improvements to the play facilities at Ostlers View, Billingshurst and Carpenters Meadow, Pulborough.
  8. Invest in local arts and leisure and foster civic pride.
    • Achieve the preparation milestones in the project to decarbonise and refurbish of the Capitol Theatre.
    • Complete a scoping exercise to shape the development of a cultural strategy for the Horsham District.
    • Create a Denne Road Cemetery Heritage Trail and online tour.
    • Invest in improvements to the Southwater Country Park Toilet Block.
  9. Improve access to sports for under-represented groups.
    • Undertake a review of the Leisure Access Card Scheme to ensure it continues to support access to leisure services for the whole community.
    • Install an outdoor gym at Bennetts Field, Horsham.