Chichester Local Plan sets new housing target and improvements to two A27 roundabouts

The figures were discussed during a meeting of the full council on Tuesday (January 24) where councillors agreed to put the Plan out to a six-week consultation.

The housing allocation is made up of 8,717 homes along the east-west corridor, 963 on the Manhood Peninsula and 679 in the north of the district.

Susan Taylor, cabinet member for planning, explained that the target of 638 dwellings per annum (dpa) could not be met due to the constraints of the area.

Those constraints centre around the fact that some 70 per cent of the land in the district has special protection status, while other issues include the A27 and the ongoing problems with waste-water treatment.

Instead, a target of 575dpa has been set in the Plan.

Mrs Taylor said the council had asked the government several times to explain why the housing target did not reflect the constraints of the area.

She added: “Each time we were told ‘show us the evidence’ so that’s exactly what we have done, leaving, as required, no stone unturned.

“The Local Plan is reliant on and must be supported by evidence and [the council] will present the evidence at examination to justify the revised housing need figure.”

Some two-thirds of the new homes will be delivered through development which has already been approved, with the rest coming through new allocations and a 1,050-home broad location development at Southbourne.

The new sites are: 295 homes on land at Highgrove Farm, Bosham, 680 on land east of Chichester, 265 on land at Maudlin Farm, Westhampnett, and 180 in the Southern Gateway.

The Southern Gateway includes proposals to relocate the bus depot, demolish the bus station and use the 1.2ha site for a residential-led scheme made up of 110 homes plus shops and a café.

Sites carried forward from the 2015 Local Plan are: 585 homes on land at Shopwyke, 500 on land at Westhampnett/ North East Chichester, 1,300 at the Tangmere Strategic Development Location (an increase of 300), and 1,600 west of Chichester.

Other strategic locations expected to be allocated in the various Neighbourhood Plans are: 270 homes in Chichester city, 300 in Nutbourne and Hambrook, and 220 in Loxwood.

Transport plays a large part in the plan, not least the need to improve the A27.

It was estimated that junction improvements along the road would cost between £90m and £135m – a bill which cannot be met through developer contributions alone.

Two schemes were recommended for inclusion in the Plan – the Fishbourne Road roundabout and Terminus Road Link (A259), which would cost between £9.5m and £12.9m; and the Bognor Road Roundabout and Vinnetrow Road Link, which would cost between £19.4m and £30.4m.

Looking to the green side of things, Mrs Taylor said the Plan aimed for a minimum of 10 per cent net gain in biodiversity.

Working in partnership with neighbouring authorities, a water neutrality strategy was set out to ensure that development in the north-east of the area would not have ‘an adverse impact’.

The Plan also proposed a series of wildlife corridors to link the South Downs National Park with the harbour and stressed the need to protect corridors where development was planned.

As for the economy, the Plan aims for more than 100,000sqm of employment floorspace to be provided by 2039, with land being safeguarded to the east of the existing Rolls Royce site to allow for future expansion.

Leader Eileen Lintill said: “The Plan is supported by a substantial body of evidence and we now believe that we have achieved the right balance between an achievable and deliverable level of housing growth – supported by the required infrastructure – and protection of our sensitive and valued environment.

“Only by progressing this Plan to consultation, submission and eventual adoption will the council be able to return to a Plan-led approach and regain control over speculative housing development.”

Liberal Democrat leader Adrian Moss recognised the council was between a rock and a hard place when it came to the uncertainties surrounding a review of national planning rules.

He said the authority must reserve the right to make changes to the Local Plan depending on what that review decided.

As for the Plan itself, he added: “Our residents are being asked to directly fund upgrades to the A27 to the tune of millions of pounds.

“That is money that should be put towards providing genuinely affordable housing and infrastructure – including upgrades to our roads and cycle path network – that will serve local residents rather than through traffic.”

He also raised concerns about the continued building of homes next to Chichester Harbour, calling on the council to ‘ramp up the pressure’ on Southern Water and asking the organisation to object to planning applications which threatened to overload the area’s sewerage system.

Sarah Sharp (Green, Chichester South) was worried that the vision set out in the Plan bore little resemblance to what was happening on the ground.

She said: “Whatever the fine words in the plan, I am not convinced the vision will achieve anything like what it aims for.

“Growth north of Chichester has been ruled out in order to ‘maintain the rural nature of the area’.

“Sadly, this rule doesn’t seem to apply to communities in the south.

“I am concerned that this strategy won’t prevent coastal squeeze, and our harbour will continue to be damaged by development.”

The Plan will now be put out to consultation between February 3 to March 17 before being examined by a planning inspector to make sure it is sound and legal.

It has certainly been a long journey.

The Plan was due to be reviewed and adopted in July 2020 but has been delayed three times.