Homes not leisure

IT seems very strange that the Arun councillors at their July full council meeting put forward the idea of developing the St Martin’s site as a leisure complex, when we have a perfectly adequate one already up and running in Littlehampton. What a waste of money.

By The Newsroom

Published 20th Aug 2011, 08:00 BST

Far better use of this site would be to build houses on it and so relieve the pressure on the Courtwick Lane development which is up for planning consideration at the moment.

The need to build on 66 acres of prime agricultural land at Courtwick Lane could be avoided, if the St Martin’s site and other brownfield sites were used, so saving this valuable farmland and the precious habitat for the numerous wildlife, including three barn owls, that are known to live there.

The countryside is a precious and finite natural resource that once built on is gone for ever. Why doesn’t Arun District Council follow the policy of Brighton, which intends to use every possible brownfield site for development instead of encroaching on the countryside?

Patrick Mason,

The Martlets,

Rustington