Chichester District Council opens up about measures taken to protect the city harbour

The reader wrote in last week to point out that the historic harbour is facing more challenges then ever before – from everything from increased local development, to sewage discharges from organisations like Southern Water.

Eager to ease concerns, a spokesperson for Chichester District Council said the local authority have been holding Southern Water to account over their treatment of the harbour. Among other measures, the council have filed a successful letter of complaint to water regulator Ofwat and forced Southern Water to agree to a position statement as to the capacity of wastewater treatment works in relation to the district’s local plan.

The local plan was another concern for the reader, who asked a series of questions related to the ways in which the plan will account for the infrastructural demands created by new housing. The council spokesperson made clear that officers are liaising with National Highways and the County Council to devise a strategy which should be able to handle 575 new homes per year, so long as the capacity of the road network is continually improved.

They described the revised plan as a ‘monitor and manage’ proposal which should allow council to assess the most appropriate means of mitigation in the plan area at any given time.

The spokesperson also made clear that the new local plan should help hold Southern Water to account and safeguard bodies of water like the Chichester Harbour. They made clear that, under the plan, new housing developments will be phased to align with necessary sewage network improvements in order to ensure the system can cope with increased demand.

"Capacity of the sewage treatment works is heavily influenced by rainfall and groundwater infiltration into the existing network,” they explained. “The available capacity is calculated on an average taken from a rolling five year assessment of infiltration. This means that the amount of capacity already used fluctuates on an annual basis. The Environment Agency regulate this wastewater treatment process.”

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