This site was produced by: LOCAL AUTHORITY PUBLISHING
Publishers for local authorities throughout Great Britain. View more Official Guides at www.officialguides.co.uk

Mid Sussex is the perfect blend of town, village and countryside. Burgess Hill, East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and over twenty villages and hamlets are all set within some of the most beautiful countryside in the southeast. With a good range of housing, varied employment opportunities and outstanding access to London, Gatwick and the south coast, Mid Sussex is a great place in which to live.

There is a wide variety of housing available in the district. This ranges from older style houses in parts of the towns and in many of the villages, to brand new houses and apartments both in the town centres and on attractive new developments on the edge. In recent years large-scale new housing development has taken place at Burgess Hill, and the very attractive Bolnore Village is currently being built at Haywards Heath. Land is also earmarked for extensive new housing development at East Grinstead, where building is expected to start in the next few years. Other recent housing developments in the three towns include a number of new apartment developments on town centre redevelopment sites. These provide a range of units aimed particularly at smaller households or first time buyers.

The three towns provide a wide range of services and facilities for their own residents and businesses as well as acting as service centres for the surrounding villages and countryside. These services include an extensive range of shops with each town having its own particular character and specialities. Burgess Hill has two attractive pedestrianised shopping centres, The Martlets and The Market Place; East Grinstead has a range of speciality shops based in its attractive historic High Street, as well as a more modern centre in London Road; and Haywards Heath has The Orchards shopping mall centred on Marks and Spencer as well as having a thriving restaurant, café and bar area in The Broadway.

All three towns offer a range of first class recreation facilities, including excellent leisure centres. Olympos Burgess Hill is one of the best facilities of its type in the south east, and attracts visitors from a wide area well beyond the boundaries of Mid Sussex. The arts are well catered for at Martlets Hall and the Orion Cinema in Burgess Hill, Clair Hall in Haywards Heath, the Chequer Mead Arts Centre and the cinema at East Grinstead. A number of gardens, stately homes and other visitor attractions such as the Bluebell Railway are also located in and around the district.

Further improvements to the services and facilities in the three main town centres are planned for the future. The District Council is working in partnership with private development company Thornfield Properties. New master plans for the future of all three towns are being prepared and will ultimately deliver enhanced services and facilities and an even more attractive environment.

Mid Sussex is very well connected in terms of transport links within and outside the District. The A23 / M23 runs through the district giving rapid access to the south coast and to London and other points in the south east region via the M25. The cross channel ferry ports and the Channel Tunnel are within a short distance, and Gatwick Airport is minutes away just beyond the northern boundary of the district. Rail services are also excellent. Haywards Heath is one of the busiest and best-connected stations in the southeast, with fast train services to London, the south coast and other centres in the region, and direct services to destinations much further afield including as far north as Manchester. Burgess Hill, Hassocks and Balcombe are also on the London to Brighton main line, and East Grinstead has direct services to London.