Littlehampton homes shock

Arun District Council confirmed this week that developers had been in informal talks with officials over proposals for 750 homes at Courtwick Park. A planning application is expected within months.

The council has, itself, suggested 500 homes could be accommodated on the site, but the higher figure put forward by housebuilders has alarmed one councillor, who this week branded the scheme "Littlehampton's best-kept secret".

Littlehampton Ham ward councillor Mike Northeast said the Courtwick Park proposals seemed shrouded in secrecy, compared with widely-publicised plans for the development of 1,500 homes and business units in the North Littlehampton scheme.

And he feared that the developers' claims that an extra 250 homes could

be fitted onto the Courtwick Park site would lead to more flats being built, when the area actually needed family houses.

He said: "I have been attending meetings for a year or so now about the North Littlehampton scheme, but Courtwick Park has only been in the background. There has been a lot of talk about roads and other infrastructure for North Littlehampton, but nothing for this other site.

"I have always said these two schemes should be dealt with together, and not in isolation, but the danger is that we are going to end up with not just 500 homes at Courtwick Park now, but 750, and with no facilities and no infrastructure."

Courtwick Farm was included in Arun's Options for Growth draft strategy, setting out where new homes and jobs could be provided in the district up to 2026. A major consultation was held earlier this year.

A spokesman for the council said: "The developers have carried out their own investigations of the site and in informal discussions with the council have suggested they believe the capacity could be up to 750 homes. Our own earlier investigations and subsequent consultation document identified the site as having a potential capacity for 500 homes.

"Councillors will be asked to make their decision in February. If the site was identified by councillors as their preferred option for development and a planning application was submitted by the developers, it would be subject to the normal development control process in due course."

*For the full report, see this week's Littlehampton Gazette, on sale now.

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