Scheme to build 2,000 homes in North Bersted could start in 2013

Major landowner the Church Commissioners plans to get the builders started on the biggest civil engineering project the town has seen in 2013 if planning permission is granted.

Steve Melligan, the commissioner's head of planning and development, said: "We are expecting the housing market to be in far better shape by the time all the necessary preliminary work has been carried out.

"This will mean that we will be able to help stimulate the local economy, address the need for more housing in the area and aid the ongoing regeneration of Bognor Regis at the best time for local residents and businesses to benefit."

Mr Melligan was among members of the project team present at the

latest exhibition about the Bognor Regis Eco-Quarter plans held at the Jubilee Community Centre in North Bersted last Friday night and the Regis Centre in Bognor the next day.

Just over 100 people went along on the first night. The first 90 minutes of the second day saw an attendance of 62 visitors.

The Church Commissioners and fellow landowner David Langmead have applied to Arun District Council for outline planning permission for the homes, business premises and community facilities such as a primary school on 370 acres of farmland north of Chalcraft Lane.

The decision is likely to be made by councillors next February. By then, they will have decided which areas should be earmarked for

development to enable government housebuilding targets to be met.

A further set of planning permissions will be needed, if the outline proposals are approved, to deal with detailed matters such as the number of houses and flats and the road layout for the development. Another 500 homes will then be proposed.

Mr Melligan said the latest display had been the fifth exhibition held about the proposals in the past year in addition to two workshops for invited community representatives. The biggest concern raised continued to be congestion on the surrounding road network.

But he said improvements to Chalcraft Lane, the 'pink pub' roundabout outside the Royal Oak, a new section of the Bognor relief road and improved public transport would help to overcome that problem.

He hoped the provision of drainage schemes, such as a network of ponds, had answered worries about the flooding risk of putting so many houses on an area with a high water table.

Defending the loss of the farmland, he said: "There is a balance to be struck between growing crops and providing enough housing for people. We will also be providing enough space for about 100 allotments as well as encouraging a shop in the market square development for the sale of local produce.

"We will also have public open space and a cricket pitch as well as providing extra facilities at the Jubilee Community Centre and another football pitch."

A protest exhibition about the plans was staged at the Regis Centre's entrance by four members of the Clued (Chalcraft Lane Urban Extension Development) Up group.

Founder Tony Lancaster said: "This has been our best protest yet. I would say everyone who has been to see the exhibition has spoken to us as well. Our protest is really snowballing now and we are getting a lot of support.

"I still can't see the sense of development. The roads are never going to cope with the extra traffic. They were built in the 1920s and 30s and you can't make them wider. It's like the arteries to a heart. You can make the heart bigger but not the arteries and they will just clog up."

*Opponents and supporters of the Bognor Regis Eco-Quarter will go head-to-head next week.

Those on both sides of the application have been invited to attend Tuesday's meeting of Bognor Regis Civic Society. The town's MP, Nick Gibb, will also be present to take part in the debate.

The session will be held at 7.30pm at the society's usual venue of the Royal Norfolk Hotel.

Opponents voice their concerns

Among those who have written opposing the planning application is Newtown Avenue resident Sarah Boughtflower.

She told Arun District Council she was totally against the

proposals. "I see this development giving no additional benefits

to local residents, but many disadvantages," she wrote.

"The only people who stand to gain from this encroaching development are the landowners and the developers, who do not live locally in West Sussex and will not have to put up with the consequences.

"If you consider this development to be the heart of the community, and the surrounding road networks the arteries, it will only be a matter of time before the arteries get congested and the heart stops.

"So please, use your commonsense and strongly oppose this vast overdevelopment, as resuscitation after planning has been granted is not an option."

As well as the traffic congestion, she cited the flooding risk, the

lack of local jobs and the loss of farmland among her seven formal objections.

Locals will have a say

An electors' meeting will enable Aldwick residents to formally have their say about the housing proposals.

Parish councillors agreed on Monday to stage the session as soon as possible. A date and venue are being arranged.

They decided upon the meeting instead of going through the

time-consuming process of staging a parish poll at an expense of 10,000.

Council member Jim Ramage said it was vital those who lived in Aldwick had the chance to comment about the plans.

"People who live in West Meads and Rose Green will be just as adversely affected by this development as Bersted will be," he said. "Another 2,500 homes is half the number of homes we have in Aldwick. That is not sufficient infrastructure to support all of that housing.

"Even residents who live down in Aldwick East (the Fish Lane area) are going to suffer because they are not going to get to Chichester as easily as they do

at the moment."

John Bunderla-Davies said: "We should be asking people if they want us to fight this proposal or if they want us to accept it."

But Brian Dodd said opposing the scheme would be the reaction of Nimbys.

Four out of every ten homes in the proposed development would provide badly-needed affordable housing.

"There are numerous people around Aldwick having to live in overcrowded conditions.

"There are two sides to this argument because there are people who want to be accommodated," he said.

Molly Myers stated: "Without a doubt, there are a lot of concerns over such a big development, but one thing is certain.

"We can't stop progress."

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