Littlehampton flats scheme refused over smells and view

Elaine Benson has dismissed an appeal against Arun District Council’s refusal of planning permission for six flats in two blocks on the former Fort Road Garage site.

The scheme was described as “totally inappropriate” when it was discussed at Arun’s development control committee 14 months ago, and the unanimous decision was taken to reject it.

Councillors pointed out that there was no footpath on the side of the road where the homes were planned, and where large lorries were “lumbering” past all day.

In her letter dismissing the appeal, the inspector states: “The appeal site is adjacent to a depot in which local authority refuse vehicles are parked when not in use. I observed during my first site visit that a number of the refuse vehicles are parked close to the boundary.

“The unpleasant smells emanating from the vehicles would be detrimental to the living conditions of the residents of the nearest block, which would be only some 1m from the boundary. This effect would be worse during periods of hot weather.

“Notwithstanding that the vehicles are out collecting refuse during the daytime, the outlook from the first floor windows facing onto the refuse vehicles during the evenings and at the weekend, when most residents would be at home, would be so unsightly as to amount to harm to their occupants’ residential amenities.

“The ground-floor bedroom windows of block 2 would have an unacceptably oppressive outlook out onto a high fence located only 1m away, which is necessary to attenuate noise.”

She added that, while the noise concerns could have been dealt with by measures proposed by the applicant, overall, the development conflicted with planning policy requirements to “secure a good standard of amenity for all existing and future occupants of land and buildings”.

The inquiry was held by way of written submissions to the inspector.

At the Arun meeting last February, Littlehampton Town Council also lodged a strong objection.