Angmering's plan overruled again as care facility granted

Applicant Frontier Estates argued its proposal would enable older residents to own their own home, accessing 24-hour care.

But approval by Arun District Council’s development control committee last Wednesday was the second time in weeks that the parish’s neighbourhood plan had been overruled.

The legal document crafted by residents deemed the site unsuitable for housing – but Arun’s failure to identify enough suitable land for housing saw parish policies overridden.

Resident Peter Slowe, of Beech View, told the committee approval would ‘forever change’ the rural character of the surroundings.

He said: “The neighbourhood plan didn’t drop from the sky. It involved hundreds of local people and was made in March 2016.

“This area proposed is an area explicitly excluded from being suitable for housing. This is an area which is completely outside any area proposed or expected for development in any plan.”

Angmering Parish Council supported the concept of an extra care facility – of which the applicants said would enable villagers to remain local if they needed to access care.

But it joined 23 residents in their objection to the development, with concerns including flooding, building heights, overdevelopment and the site’s location outside the built-up area.

Planning officer Juan Baeza said applications outside built-up areas would not normally be approved.

Arun’s severe housing shortage and land supply issue, however, meant neighbourhood plan policies were out of date.

In such cases, permission should be granted unless the impact of the scheme significantly outweighed the benefits.

The committee approved the plans by a majority of nine to three, with one abstention.

The parish expressed concern with last month’s decision to approve nine homes in the village. The same issues with land supply deemed their plan outdated.