Mixed reception for ‘alien’ retail unit plans for Rustington

In spite of the proposals for the site at the junction of Ash Lane and The Street being supported by Rustington Parish Council and five individual letters, Arun District Council officers are recommending their development control committee should refuse planning permission.

Most of the site is currently occupied by the Chandlers Mini showroom, with two flats at first floor level, a separate cobbler’s unit at the rear and a detached shed/garage.

They would be cleared to make way for a large, new single-storey unit, with glazed frontage and a curved roof.

The parish council says in a letter to Arun: “The proposal to bring a new retain unit with associated servicing and car parking would add to the ambience of the village, by enhancing the retail shopping experience, with a design that would be aesthetically pleasing and sympathetic to the adjacent residential properties.”

However, the officers’ report to the committee meeting, on Wednesday, states: “It is not agreed that the design would be aesthetically pleasing. It would look out of place in this traditional retail area in a village centre location. It provides a large retail unit that is not well-related to its setting in terms of design and site coverage.”

The individual letters of support praise site owner Store Properties ‘judgement and long-term commitment to the continued prosperity of Rustington’, underline the need to attract more businesses to the village centre and claim a larger company would ‘increase footfall to all businesses in the village’.

The officers’ report says that while redevelopment of the site is acceptable, ‘it is the form of the building and its size that raises an objection’.

The report adds: “The design of the proposed replacement retail unit would be of a modern warehouse style, which, given its size and site coverage, would appear as an alien feature in this location and would be out of keeping with the existing 1950s shopping parade, which is comprised of more traditional style buildings with brick elevations and tiled roofs.”

Officers recommend the plans should be turned down on the grounds that the unit would appear ‘cramped and bulky and represent an overdevelopment of the site’. The design would be ‘unacceptable and alien’ and would harm the appearance of the surrounding area.

Plans by Chandlers Mini for a new showroom and workshops complex at Roundstone Farm, Angmering, were rejected by Arun in April.