Pagham in midst of ‘bad planning decisions’

Letter from: Natalie Pink, Sylvia Close, Nyetimber
Pagham Harbour  SUS-190924-211124008Pagham Harbour  SUS-190924-211124008
Pagham Harbour SUS-190924-211124008

I will cut to the chase. I am trying to raise awareness and put pressure on the local council to stop making bad planning decisions.

I live in the small village of Nyetimber in the parish of Pagham.

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My house is 1.5 miles from the sea and one mile from an RSPB protected nature reserve.

There is one single carriage road into and out of the village.

The road has many accidents, often floods and cannot cope with the current weight of traffic.

There are many applications for building entire new estates surrounding the village which will cause many problems including flooding and upheaval to protected bird species that use these fields for nesting.

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In total there are 780 new homes, a care home, a school, sports pitch all planned for this small village with one outdated road in.

One of the developments in question (P70/19/RES) currently is planned for a field directly behind where I live, the application is for 90 homes. The planning status is currently in reserved matters as they have not satisfied the drainage needs amongst other issues. The field is always sodden and currently has large areas of water all over it with nowhere for this to go. The plan is to pump this water into the local river – The Rife. The Rife has burst its banks and cannot cope with the water it is already trying to carry away.

The developers have come on to the land and have ripped down trees and brush and destroyed habitats.

We watched as foxes ran for cover at the weekend.

Another planned development (P134/16/OUT) is for 280 homes north of the village, this land is currently so flooded that local people have been sailing on it and have nicknamed it Sefter lakes. (I can provide pictures.)

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The largest of the developments (P140/16/OUT) is for 400 homes, a 70 bed care home, a school, sports pitch etc.

This development is planned for fields that stretch from Nyetimber village up to the nature reserve.

This nature reserve houses many species of protected birds, including Brent geese that use the farmland to overwinter and nest on.

Where will these birds go if we remove their habitat?

There is much local evidence that the birds are very much present and still use and need this land – despite claims to the contrary in surveys.

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Another major issue is the small and outdated water treatment plant for the village.

A new estate was built in the centre of the village about 18 months ago and since then the smell of human waste is often reaching the village whereas before this was not noticed.

A small refurbishment was done on the plant but this has not helped and I really do not know what will happen if this plant has to deal with the proposed new developments.

With the current climate the way it is and the major concerns from the Environment Agency about the continued building on flood plains, I cannot understand why Arun District Council (ADC) is still allowing these builds to go ahead.

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I have spoken to ADC on numerous occasions but it falls on deaf ears, I am told the Government has given us quotas and we need to fulfil them.

It is proposed to build on land very close to the sea where the sea defences are failing and it is estimated the village may be underwater in 30 years anyway if things cannot be slowed.