The family behind plans for 93 homes, in Pulborough, have outlined why they think the development should be approved, despite an objection from the parish council.
The Macari family has submitted an outline planning application for the Toat Café site – at Stane Street, North Heath – under planning reference DC/26/0826.
The proposals include up to 100 residential dwellings, including 35 per cent affordable housing, alongside a pharmacy, shop/café and areas of open space.
The family says the scheme would provide much-needed housing while creating new community facilities and securing a future for the long-established Toat Café site.
However, Pulborough Parish Council has formally objected to the application.
Members resolved to object, saying the development would create a ‘substantial, predominantly greenfield residential enclave’, outside the defined built-up area boundary.
The parish council said the proposals were contrary to the Pulborough Neighbourhood Plan, as well as the Horsham District Planning Framework.
It said the development would significantly alter the established settlement pattern, urbanise countryside with a strong rural character and create a car-dependent development which was insufficiently integrated with Pulborough and Codmore Hill.
The parish council also referred to Horsham District Council‘s June 2026 assessment of site SA677, carried out in the context of the district’s housing shortfall.
According to the parish council, that assessment rejected the site for housing because of very negative landscape impacts, harm to the settlement pattern and inadequate sustainable accessibility.
The council acknowledged the benefits of providing market and affordable housing, but said these benefits needed to be considered alongside the neighbourhood plan and the site’s identified planning issues.
The Macari family – landowners for around 50 years – disputed the concerns over sustainability and accessibility.
Maggie Macari said: “We believe, and as do our architects, that it’s a very sustainable plan.”
Maggie said the site had previously been considered suitable for commercial development through the emerging neighbourhood plan.
The architects working on the scheme say the site was initially considered for general industrial, storage, distribution and other commercial uses.
They say extensive marketing failed to identify businesses willing to take up those uses.
The family argues that housing would generate fewer vehicle movements, particularly heavy traffic, than an industrial development.
It also says the development would provide a more attractive entrance to the South Downs National Park than an industrial estate.
Maggie said the family had tried to design a development which would benefit both future residents and people already living nearby.
The proposals include public open spaces, ponds, a children’s play area, a mountain bike technical skills area, a substantial meadow and new cycle paths and footpaths.
“We have tried to make it a community,” she said.
A replacement restaurant for the Toat Café is also proposed, alongside a pharmacy and small shop.
The family says a local pharmacist has agreed to operate the pharmacy, which would serve the new development and surrounding community.
The proposals have been the subject of pre-application discussions with Horsham District Council and a public consultation.
The developers say more than 100 people attended the consultation event earlier this year and that 65 letters of support have so far been submitted.
Maggie said ‘most’ of the attendees were supportive, with left the Macari family ‘pleasantly surprised’.
She added that there had been little opposition at the meeting.
“People mostly seem quite positive about the whole thing,” she said.
The Macari family has also highlighted Horsham District’s housing supply position.
The developers say the council currently has 1.7 years of housing land supply, significantly below the five-year supply required by the UK Government.
They argue that smaller sites such as Toat Café could help provide homes while larger strategic developments take longer to progress.
Maggie said the existing transport café was no longer commercially viable, and ‘ust not sustainable now’.
“There’s not the business that there used to be,” she said.
“The site is tired looking and we just feel that now is the time to get something different on it – a bit of fresh air, really.”
If planning permission is granted, the proposed restaurant would allow the family to continue operating a food business from the site.
The application will now be considered by Horsham District Council, which will ultimately decide whether planning permission should be granted.