East Wittering homes plan appeal inquiry restarts on Thursday

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The ability of local authorities to prepare for future flooding will be tested next week as one of Britain’s biggest housing developers seeks to appeal Chichester District Council’s refusal for 268 new homes on a future tidal inundation zone in East Wittering.

Residents in the low-lying coastal area are aghast at the developer’s proposals and critical of its unusually aggressive tactics, which have included the submission of evidence after the Appeal deadline, demanding an adjournment of the Appeal Inquiry to commission a further report, and the submission of three more, almost identical, planning applications for the same site before the Appeal is concluded.

The developer claims that the risk of future flooding cannot be predicted with any certainty and points out that the Environment Agency has not objected to the plan. However, the EA, which agreed the future flood risk maps, has stated that its statutory remit only extends to current coastal and fluvial flood risk, not future risk. Protecting communities from future flood risk development lies primarily with the local planning authority, in this case Chichester District Council. Meanwhile, existing groundwater and surface water flood risk falls under the remit of the county council.

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CDC commissioned JBA, one of the world’s leading flood risk consultants, to map out the flood risks in the district, including projections for flooding until 2121. Those projections are included in the district’s Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, prepared for the area’s Local Plan, the examination of which also begins this week. According to the SFRA maps, the proposed site lies in an area shown to be at risk of tidal inundation within the lifetime of the development.

Flooding of Church Road, East Wittering adjacent to the siteFlooding of Church Road, East Wittering adjacent to the site
Flooding of Church Road, East Wittering adjacent to the site

Both risk consultant reports commissioned by the developer after the Appeal deadline state that there can be no certainty about the site's flood risk going forward because the situation facing the coastal area is so unpredictable.

CDC objected to the application on several other planning grounds besides flood risk, including that the site is a designated area for migratory birds, contains habitat used by protected water voles and is prime agricultural farmland. Residents point out that the site lies at the bottom of a cul-de-sac peninsula with limited road infrastructure, no secondary schooling, few employment opportunities and an economy based on nature tourism and agriculture, both of which would be harmed by the development. Locals also note that the Southern Water is already unable to cope with drainage in the area, with sewage tankers regularly augmenting the failing mains drainage system. Southern Water, however, cannot legally object to planning applications.

The adjourned Appeal Hearing re-starts on October 3 at Bracklesham Barn, Beech Avenue, PO208HU and will be open to the public.

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