Harbour fertiliser plans get go-ahead

The storage of ammonium nitrate on a site off Basin Road South, at Shoreham Harbour, Southwick, was given the go-ahead at a planning meeting at Adur District Council on Monday night.

The hazardous-substances application was approved after five councillors supported the plan and four had opposed it.

The council had received objections from many of the residents nearby, including the Southwick Society, who were concerned about the amount of the chemical the harbour wanted to store.

A letter was also sent to the council on behalf of some of the residents living in nearby Western Esplanade, known as Millionaires' Row and home to celebrities including Norman Cook, aka DJ Fatboy Slim, and his wife Zoe Ball and Sir Paul McCartney's estranged wife Heather Mills-McCartney.

The port already stores 1,000 tonnes of the substance on site but residents have said the 24-hour surveillance with video cameras would not be good enough protection to combat security risks and safety threats.

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service did not object to the plans, provided there was a provision of adequate fresh water for fire-fighting and a sufficient sprinkler system was installed.

Sprinkler systems are not a statutory requirement. But the service said if a fire was to occur it would be treated as a potentially explosive situation requiring a 400m-radius cordon inside which fire crews would not go.

This would be likely to result in a gas cloud, meaning hundreds of homes would be evacuated, the A259 would be closed and rail services in the area would be suspended.

In September, the council deferred a decision on the application while it took advice from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The report said the risk surrounding residents was high enough for the HSE to advise against consent on safety grounds but said it would be reduced to an acceptable level by limiting the time the full amount of fertiliser is stored.

It recommended none should be kept there between June and August when nearby beaches are at their busiest.

But Eastbrook ward councillor Jim Funnell said: "The area is busy all year round so I do have concerns about this."