Three homes to be built behind Aldwick shops

The scheme from MWG Properties incorporates a storage area behind the commercial units at 73-35 Aldwick Road and a rear extension will also be added to create three homes.

Plans to convert ‘back up stores’ behind shops and a car showroom were discussed by councillors in April and have now received planning permission.

Two one-beds and a larger three-bed home will be built though two objectors highlighted concerns about overlooking and the fact the homes will have no parking.

Bognor Regis Town Council also objected due to parking concerns and said the scheme would ‘have the appearance of an unduly cramped form of development’.

“The fact that no parking is allocated concerns me,” Martin Lury (LDem, Bersted) said.

Isabel Thurston (Green, Barnham) disagreed and said she wanted to see more ‘infill development’ and ‘properties for people who don’t have a vehicle’.

Concerns were also expressed about emergency vehicle access to the Arun Lodge Car Home with Hugh Coster (Ind, Aldwick East) calling the scheme ‘cramped’.

But the highways authority does not think the new homes would have an ‘unacceptable impact’ on nearby roads and planning officers said emergency vehicles would use an alternative route.

James Hutchison, of Corbil Estates & Planning, said the new homes will be ‘within walking distance of shops and services’ and ‘result in no loss of any green space’.

He added that this was ‘not uncommon’ and highlighted the ‘importance of making the most effective use of our urban areas’.