Editing Burgess Hill (section)

===1900 to present day===
On 12 July 1944 a [[Royal Air Force]] [[Supermarine Spitfire]] fighter crashed at Greenlands Farm, off the Keymer Road, killing the Belgian pilot.<ref>{{cite book |last=Longstaff-Tyrell |first= Peter |title = Destination Fowington – East Sussex military airfields & Allied aircraft incidents |publisher=Gote House Publishing Company | year = 1999 |isbn=0-9521297-4-4}}</ref>

The town continued to grow, experiencing its largest population increase between the years of 1951 and 1961, when the population of about 7,000 residents almost doubled. This earned Burgess Hill the title of fastest growing town in the South East. By 1956, the Victoria Industrial Estate was completed, and has since expanded. It now contains the British headquarters of two substantial international companies. In 1986 a smaller industrial estate in the North of the town developed, known as Sheddingdean Industrial Estate. Both Sheddingdean and Victoria have now been renamed as [[business park]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 August 2011 |title=Burgess Hill: A Town Wide Strategy for the next 20 years |url=https://www.midsussex.gov.uk/media/3254/ep58_burgesshilltownwidestrategy.pdf}}</ref>

In the seventies and eighties several new housing estates were built, namely the Folders Lane estate (formerly known as Oakwood), the Oak Hall Park estate and the Sheddingdean estate. The 1980s saw the largest single development in the town's history; new housing was created in the northwest of the town with a development known as West End Meadows. Along with this a link road to the A23 was built, easing traffic on the previous route along Gatehouse Lane and Jobs Lane.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=History of Burgess Hill |url=https://www.burgesshill.gov.uk/town-community/history-of-burgess-hill/ |access-date=2023-08-24 |website=Burgess Hill Town Council |language=en}}</ref>

[[Bedelands Farm Nature Reserve]] to the northwest was designated a [[Local nature reserve|Local Nature Reserve]] (LNR) at around this time, preserving at least this area from the otherwise relentless building,<ref>Bangs, David (2018). ''THE LAND OF THE BRIGHTON LINE: A Field Guide to the Middle Sussex and Southeast Surrey Weald''. Farlington, Portsmouth: Bishops Printers. {{ISBN|978-0-9548638-2-1}}.</ref> but further development took place to the South and West of the Town in the early 1990s. This became the Hammonds Ridge estate (known colloquially as the 'Tesco estate' due to its proximity to the supermarket) which was built at the time.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

The Triangle, a large leisure and conference centre, was built in the Northwest of the town and opened by the Queen in 1999.<ref name=":0" /> In 2005 St Paul's Catholic College moved from Haywards Heath to their new site opposite the Triangle.

In 2004 Mid-Sussex District Council announced the Burgess Hill Master Plan, a scheme arranged with Thornfield Properties plc to massively redevelop Burgess Hill Town Centre. The Master Plan was part of a larger scheme that would have seen the redevelopment of Haywards Heath and East Grinstead town centres.

The plan would result in the complete reconstruction of most of the town centre, and the redevelopment of the Victorian era train station. However early in 2010 Thornfield Properties was reported to be in financial difficulties<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.building.co.uk/news/thornfield-properties-firm-goes-into-administration/3155982.article|title=Thornfield Properties firm goes into administration|work=Building|access-date=2018-02-02|language=en|archive-date=21 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121032053/http://www.building.co.uk/news/thornfield-properties-firm-goes-into-administration/3155982.article|url-status=live}}</ref> and ultimately the scheme did not move forward. Many of the proposed changes were included by [[NewRiver|New River Retail]] in their redevelopment plans for the town centre.

As well as the aforementioned developments, there have been two more housing estates built in the town – one in the town's north east, and the other in the area known as Folders Meadow in the east.

Some of the areas currently being developed are the old Keymer Tileworks and around the south east off Folders Lane. Almost 1,000 houses will be built on these sites over the next few years.{{clarify|date=April 2021}}