Plant nursery gets new owner after new homes bids fail

The owner will take over Chalcroft Nurseries after it was put up for sale earlier this year with the prospect of the six-acre site being sold for development. The sale of the freehold followed two unsuccessful attempts since December 2005 to develop the land north of Chalcraft Lane for housing.

Both schemes, for 140 houses and flats, were rejected by Arun District Council because the site is within the rural gap which separates the urban areas of Bognor Regis and Chichester.

But the new owner will keep the current business operating. Present owners Ray Turbefield and Peter Tomkins are negotiating with the unnamed individual to sell the business.

Mr Tomkins said: 'We do not know exactly when the sale will be completed, though it will be during this summer.

'The nursery is still open during the negotiations and it will stay open under the new owner, who is a local person. The Tropikoi aquatic nursery on the site will also be staying.'

Mr Turbefield and Mr Tomkins bought the nursery land in 1962. It was a former orchard with some derelict glasshouses among an overgrown wilderness.

The business attracts several thousand customers a month during its busiest time of year around this month. The five staff who work there in the winter are boosted by seasonal employees to cope with the surge in business.