Where are the jobs?

WITH regard to the current debate on Arun’s local plan and the proposed housing development in Angmering by Barratt and David Wilson Homes, I would like to suggest that any new housing needs to have jobs available either locally or within a reasonable commuting distance, unless it is for retired people. Arun says in its local plan that it will provide business opportunities for these new housing estates, but it can only provide the planning consent for business premises – it cannot make them move here.

I would suggest that the geography of this area does not lend itself to business development.

Most businesses need easy access to their customers and the ability to ship products to customers readily, but this is being hindered in Arun by the poor transport infrastructure. Areas where business development seem to be healthy are places such as Gatwick and the M4 corridor, where the infrastructure is very good.

With the South Downs in the way to the north and the sea to the south, most transport links have to be squeezed within a narrow east-to-west corridor. Consequently, in my view, businesses will not be attracted to the area, and in the meantime people will have to continue to travel to where the work is – Brighton, Crawley, Gatwick, for example.

With the existence of the South Downs National Park, it is unlikely that road improvements will take place to the north.

To the east and west, as everyone knows, there are great bottlenecks on the roads which may take years to sort out.

The railway also has its own bottleneck of only two tracks in places and improving this would take massive investment.

This east-west corridor will continue to give a squeezing effect if development of housing continues with an increase in population. There will be more traffic and even less land to make improvements to the transport infrastructure.

Consequently, without the incentive for businesses to settle here, it seems ludicrous to allow these large housing estates to be built, if the jobs are not going to be available.

Patrick Mason

The Martlets

Rustington