Hundres see Felpham homes plan

The high turnout greeted the first public exhibition about Site Six in two years.

It was staged by Barratt David Wilson Homes Southampton and showed how the number of large homes already approved for the scheme, called Blakes Mead, would be replaced by more smaller dwellings.

A planning application for the extra properties is set to be submitted to Arun District Council in late August.

Among the 60 people who went along in the first two hours of the six-hour display at St Mary's Centre Thursday was Leslie Townsend.

Mr Townsend, of Roundle Avenue, said: "I'm against the whole scheme being built.

"All the nature has now gone from that site.

"I'm sad to see the area being concreted. There's no wildlife at all now."

Elswater Grove resident Val Morris said: "My concern is for the families and where the children are going to school and the traffic that will be on the roads.

"The developers are just going to give the site for the school to the county council to build it but where is the council going to get the money from now?"

Linda Smith, of Elmer Sands, said she was worried the sewage from the first 100 homes to be built would add to their sewage flooding on the estate.

"I want someone to put it in writing that our problems will not get any worse," she said.

James Dunne, BDW Homes Southampton's technical director, said many of the questions raised by those at the exhibition related to the current approved development of 700 properties rather than the extra homes.

"I've been pleased by the response to the exhibition," he said.

"There is quite a lot of interest in what is going on. There have not been many questions about the new mix of properties, though."

The developer would begin to release the initial homes in September.

He said: "We have hundreds, if not into the thousands, of people on our database waiting for details of the properties."

BDW Homes has revised the range of properties for which it has received approval from Arun because the economic crisis has changed the demand for properties.

The number of six-bedroom houses has dropped from five to zero, four-beds has declined from 80 to eight and two-beds from 28 to 25.

Five-bedroom houses have risen from 39 to 57, three-beds more than doubled from 66 to 137, flats over garages from 18 to 24 and there are expected to be 18 two-bedroom apartments compared to none previously approved.