N Bersted plans for homes on show

Some 50 people crowded into the opening 45 minutes of Tuesday's four-hour exhibition held by Berkeley Homes.

The housebuilder displayed the proposals for 181 of the 434 houses it expects to build on farmland between Chichester Road and North Bersted Street.

Also on show were detailed drawings for the western section of the Bognor Regis northern relief road.

This part of the route will stretch from the Babsham Lane area towards Rowan Way, almost opposite the Ash Grove junction.

The road must be built according to a strict timetable governed by the number of houses sold by Berkeley and the developer of the neighbouring plot, Persimmon Homes.

Detailed plans for the housing and the road in Tuesday's exhibition will be submitted to Arun District Council next month.

Peter Bland, Berkeley's senior planning and design manager, said the latest proposals continued the arts and crafts design theme of the first phase of 96 homes on the site.

'The scheme delivers a mix of units from two bedroom to five bedroom and from terraced to detached properties,' he explained.

'We want to create a sense of place. That is necessary to make it attractive to buyers as well as people who will be living there.'

The development also includes 39 hectares of informal and formal open space such as a village green and sports pitches. A community hall will also be provided.

Land for a health centre and a school has been set aside as well but it will be up to the health and education authorities to give the go-ahead for them.

The section of the relief road closest to Rowan Way will be placed two metres above the low-lying flood plain.

This meets a one-in-200-year flooding risk. A large pond will be created nearby to overcome the loss of water storage caused by the road's creation.

Shripney Lane will be closed to vehicular traffic at the point where it is crossed by the relief road.

Only the roundabouts at Chichester Road and Rowan Way will be lit on the new road.

North Bersted Street resident Ann Canfer (61) said: 'This is going to happen but I am not happy about the development because of the amount of pressure it will put on existing local roads.

'I am just anxious that we are putting too many people into such a small space.

'Putting the relief road into two separate sections is also going to put a huge amount of traffic through the Rowan Way/Shripney Road roundabout which is between them.'

l A decision by Arun District Council about the first 96 homes proposed by Berkeley Homes will be made on February 19.

Approval will see work start on the site within two months to install the services such as gas and electricity ready for building to start. The total of 650 homes which comprise the North Bersted section of site six is likely to take four to five years to complete.