Earmarked for housing

The news has been revealed by one of the property agents involved in the sale of the Felpham portion of the site six development of 1,350 homes.

The developers who have bought the land '“ at North Bersted and Felpham '“ to create massive housing estates have to build the road as part of their planning permission.

The eastern portion of the single carriageway relief road will stretch from the A259 Flansham Lane at Flansham over to the A29 just north of the Southern Cross Industrial Estate.

The new road's western section will go from Rowan Way, opposite Ash Grove, to the A259 Chichester Road around Babsham Lane.

It is intended to cut congestion along the current A259 in the stretch between the railway flyover and Butlins. A strict timetable has been laid down by West Sussex and Arun councils as part of the planning permission approved by the government to ensure that the road is built before all the new homes are completed.

This ensures that the relief road has to be built within two years of the first home for sale being completed on either of the sites. Property company Strutt and Parker's partner, Roger Pryor, said it was anticipated that building of the relief road would start later this year. The first phase of housing was expected to be released in the second half of 2008. The development will be a design- led scheme with an emphasis on a quality product in a well laid-out setting.

Mr Pryor, of the firm's residential development department, said the success of the sale of the 133 acres of farmland showed that national housebuilders were keen to develop homes around Bognor Regis.

The large number of offers received for the large plot showed how popular the area was for housebuilding.

The land was offered for sale by a consortium of landowners with planning permission in principle for 700 dwellings. It was sold for well over 30m.

As the Observer reported last month, housebuilding giant Barrett Homes has acquired the large area for development through its David Wilson Homes subsidiary.

'It is without doubt one of the biggest single land deals that has been done in the area for many years,' said Mr Pryor.

The development north of the current Felpham housing of Westmoreland Drive and Normans Drive will provide 233 units of social housing, community facilities, financial contributions towards heath and education services and the eastern section of the Bognor Regis northern relief road. A professional team from Strutt and Parker and fellow agents, Henry Adams, and lawyers Thomas Eggar, handled the pre-sale requirements of the complex site.

These included gaining the requirement for an easement for a new road bridge over the railway between Bognor and Barnham and collaborating with other landowners and developers to secure the new provision of the new relief road.