Angmering council walks a housing tightrope

The plea for the council to publicly state its opposition to large-scale housing developments was made by the Save Angmering Village (SAV) group, after its village-wide poll resulted in an overwhelming rejection of such schemes.

Sue Ware, co-founder of SAV, took the 2,261 completed voting forms to Monday night’s parish council meeting, telling members and about 60 villagers at the village hall that 2,254 people had voted against new major housing schemes, with just seven in favour.

She read out a letter to the council, including the plea: “SAV requests that Angmering Parish Council publicly declare that it will represent their wishes by stating that Angmering Parish Council is against large-scale housing developments in the parish of Angmering, such as the one currently being proposed by Barratts/David Wilson Homes.”

Parish councillors stressed the difficulty they faced in representing villagers, but at the same time having to keep an open mind about the Barratts/David Wilson Homes’ proposals for 301 homes on land at Roundstone Lane, north of Worthing Rugby Club, before any planning application was submitted to Arun District Council.

Julia Graham, chairman of the parish council’s planning and conservation committee, said: “We have to be incredibly careful not to take sides. You won’t hear me do that for a very good reason.

“Please don’t interpret that as ‘We don’t care’, because we care deeply for the community we represent.”

Speaking during the public consultation session, one villager urged the council to “stand behind” SAV, adding: “We should all go together and say ‘This is not acceptable’, and we expect your backing.”

Parish council chairman Pat Turner said the SAV vote would be taken into account when the council decided its response to the anticipated planning application by Barratts/David Wilson Homes.

She pointed out, however, that if the parish council was seen to be expressing views on the application before it was submitted, that could result in its opinion being ruled out when decisions were taken by Arun or a planning inspector.

“I know you aren’t going to like my answer, but we have to go by the law. If we are seen to be backing your campaign, we could be seen to be pre-determining any application. So, when the planning application comes in, all your hard work could be put at risk,” said Mrs Turner.