Tangmere CPO housing scheme could start in 2020

A development partner to help build at least 1,000 Tangmere homes could be appointed as soon as April by the council.

The strategic site west of the village was allocated in Chichester District Council’s local plan but since then the housing scheme has stalled and a compulsory purchase order (CPO) of the land is being progressed.

A recent council-hosted meeting demonstrated how there ‘appears to be no realistic prospect of any agreement among the consortium members to work together to deliver the scheme’, according to officers.

Cabinet members are due to allocate £150,000 towards progressing the CPO when they meet next Tuesday (March 6).

The site is described as ‘fundamental to the delivery of the housing requirement identified in the local plan and for the council to be able to continue to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply’.

A cabinet report details the proposed timescale for the site with the first step the selection of a development partner by April.

A masterplan would be completed by August, with a planning application submitted by January 2019, and a CPO inquiry in March 2019.

If both planning permission and the CPO is secured work on site could then begin in January 2020.

Although the site is currently allocated for 1,000 homes this could rise up to 1,500.

Compulsory purchase orders allow certain bodies, such as district councils, to force the sale of land at market value for development when it is in the public interest.