A farmer who rejected a £275million offer for his land from housing developers has said he is 'not afraid to stand up to them'.

Robert Worsley said he feared 'country bumpkins' like himself would be 'steamrolled' and that he believed the community was ready to stand together to protect their homes.

The 48-year-old father of two has run his 550-acre, near Haywards Heath, West Sussex, for the last 15 years.

He was approached by agents for housebuilder Mayfield more than two years ago. Since then, the company has contacted Mr Worsley a number of times, trying to persuade him to sell.

Defiant: Farmer Robert Worsley, pictured in front of his home, rejected a £275million offer for his land

Other landowners on adjoining sites have also turned down large sums, Mr Worsley claimed.

The multi-million pound potential offer is 100 times the farm’s current value, even though it covers only one-seventh of the proposed 10,000-home development.

Mr Worsley, who has two daughters Anna, 13, and Rebecca, nine, is now battling the proposals, fearing that his local area faces ruin.

He said: 'It worries me that locally we could simply be steamrollered. It does seem like we are being bullied, but we are not afraid to stand up to them.'

He said that the company was pushing the plans by using the argument that the homes would be for the ‘greater good’ of the community. But he argued that the local infrastructure would not be able to cope.

He said: 'We are a rural community who don’t want this development, who don’t want to see Sussex ruined.

Mr Worsley said he would be ‘doing a massive disfavour’ to the community where he has lived all his life if he ‘took the money and ran’ after being offered £275million for his 550-acre farm in Twineham, West Sussex

‘I hope I am speaking for an awful lot of people who would have their quality of life diminished and the enjoyment of the countryside, which is the reason why they live here, diminished too.

'It’s not really about me. It’s about the fact that Sussex is being eroded away. That is the story I would like to tell.

Taking a stand: Robert Worsley on his farm

'This presumption that we can just sell Sussex off as if it were gold reserves – we can never get it back.

'Long after I have gone, Sussex will be spoiled. I will be one of the architects of that and that is what I want to resist.'

Mayfield has plans to build residential houses across a 1,200 acre patch of land that it claims will be somewhere to the west of Sayers Common.

Mr Worsley is among dozens of residents who form part of the Locals Against Mayfield Building Sprawl (Lambs).

He added that he was 'broadly surprised' that nearly all of his neighbours were of the same view as him and did not want to sell.

He added that he was 'broadly surprised' that nearly all of his neighbours were of the same view as him and did not want to sell.

'People in the countryside, us county bumpkins, don’t tend to move as much as others because our work is connected with where we live, its home and there are many other factors, such as my daughters have lived here all their lives and it is their home, we are happy here.'

Today, Sir Nicholas Soames, Conservative MP for Mid Sussex told MailOnline that the development was 'completely unsuitable'.

He said: 'It is in the wrong place and no one wants it. It does not command the support of any local people or the members of Parliament.'

'It fails on every single one of the government's rules on sustainable developments.'

He added that he and Nick Herbert, Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs, would go on opposing the plans 'until there is no breath left in their bodies'.

Consultants appointed by Horsham, Mid Sussex and Crawley in 2010 to explore the idea of a New Market Town, identified an area of search to the west of Sayers Common as potentially suitable, illustrated above

Yesterday, Mr Herbert echoed Mr Worsley’s concerns.

He accused Mayfield of using ‘bullying’ tactics, and described them as a ‘kite flying exercise by a greedy developer’.

Mr Herbert added: ‘I understand that landowners have been told by this developer, “You know you might as well give in – it’s going to come anyway so you might as well accept our cheque”.

Mr Herbert said: ‘The only comments they could possibly have had locally are negative ones. I have not encountered anyone in my constituency who wants me to support this development.

The Mayfield Market Towns website, which says that the area would be transformed into 10,000 homes and schools

‘They persist in pursuing this proposal even after it has been rejected by one inquiry after another.’

‘The tactics of this company are really shoddy bullying tactics and it has created a huge amount of local resentment and blighted this area.’

On its website, Mayfield said that the area would be transformed into 10,000 homes, an academy, primary schools and shops.

There are three different options listed as to how the homes could be distributed - as a single 'compact settlement', as a split compact settlement or as a 'cluster of villages'.

Standing together: Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Soames, left, said the development was 'completely unsuitable' while MP Nick Herbert, right, described Mayfield as a ‘kite flying exercise by a greedy developer’

Yesterday, a spokesman said that the project was in a very early stage and no planning application has been made.

They also confirmed the developer is currently in talks with residents across the districts of Horsham and Mid Sussex.