‘Prison-style’ development threatens East Preston’s heart

OUTRAGED villagers have accused Arun District Council of ‘sneaky and underhanded’ tactics in allowing plans for a ‘prison-style’ fence and gate to be introduced in East Preston – without any consultation.
Residents and members of the East Preston Parish Council gather to voice their concern over the non-material amendmentResidents and members of the East Preston Parish Council gather to voice their concern over the non-material amendment
Residents and members of the East Preston Parish Council gather to voice their concern over the non-material amendment

Residents living in Nursery Close have criticised the authority for passing a non-material amendment submitted by developers JW Stratton Ltd, which will see a two-metre high metal gate and fencing installed at the front of the Beltane Close development, effectively creating the first gated community in the village.

East Preston Parish Council has also objected to the move by Arun’s planning officers to allow this alteration to the original plan, which had been agreed more than three years ago by the council’s development and control committee, to be passed.

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Chairman of the parish council, Joop Duijif, said: “This application is threatening the very heart of East Preston’s community spirit.

“The parish council is totally against this amendment because it cuts off this development from the village and creates an imposing view for residents in the adjacent Nursery Close.

“We were completely in favour of the original application. But this change is too drastic.”

The site comprises 12 properties and encompasses a small area of green space.

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A non-material amendment is an alteration which, if included in original plans, wouldn’t have warranted a refusal to the application.

It means that no public consultation or debate is needed to approve changes of this nature.

A spokeswoman for Arun said that Government had introduced procedures that allowed developers to make these simple changes to planning permissions quickly. The spokeswoman added that the alteration in East Preston, although not favoured by residents, were completely ‘acceptable’ in planning terms.

“While recognising the parish council and some local residents are unhappy with the proposed changes, the changes are considered acceptable in planning terms under these national procedures. If they had formed part of the original scheme, then their existence would not have warranted the rejection of the scheme as a whole.”

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However, Keith Hutchings, chairman of the Nursery Close Residents’ Association, said there was an existing covenant on the land that this new fencing and gate would be in contravention of.

“We’re completely dismayed by this decision. This is something that seems to have slipped through the backdoor and something that we have no power to object to.

Arun District Council has allowed the developer of Beltane Close to substantially change the accepted and approved design of the development and has then allowed the developers to submit these changes as a non-material amendment. This seems like a blatant contravention of the Government’s guidelines and is something we seriously feel should be investigated by the Local Government Ombudsman,” he said.