Kate Winslet withdraws West Wittering sea wall plan

A planning application was lodged with Chichester District Council earlier this year for the wall along the edge of her property.

However, the plan has now been withdrawn after Chichester Harbour Conservancy reiterated its concerns over the scheme, saying no further work had been done on assessing the potential damage to the area of outstanding natural beauty.

“The creation of the proposed sea defence, in aiming to protect the area of undesignated woodland would be at the expense of losing an area of designated habitat and contributing to coastal squeeze,” said the conservancy.

The application was submitted at the start of the year and was subject to a number of time extensions following initial concerns from Natural England.

The scheme however did enjoy some support.

Resident Jonny Pudney said: “I would like to support this proposal. It will act to preserve the public access to this section of the coastal walk from West Wittering to Itchenor, which is currently under erosion threat.”

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