Village group anger at roadplan proposal

The much-criticised proposal for the A29 remained in the latest stage of the preparation of the new local plan land use blueprint.

Councillors nodded through their planning officers’ recommendations that the bypass, with a bridge over the railway and thousands of homes, should stay as amendments to the current plan.

The decision, made despite strong objections from protesters, has been criticised by Villages Action Group founder Mike Turner.

He said its members were disappointed important issues were glossed over in the meeting. “The thousands of representations over aspects such as the proposed 2,000 additional houses had been ignored.

“With 300 pages of amendments, they were rushed through at great speed by the chairman, Stephen Haymes, and members left disappointed important points had not been addressed.

“A wide area is affected by these proposals, not just three parishes but all those surrounding, because of the road scheme and downstream flood risks from building 2,000 houses where the ground water table is high. The council has not looked ahead and examined sustainable transport solutions. It seems unable to think beyond a bypass.”

The meeting of Arun District Council’s local plan subcomittee lasted about 75 minutes. Councillors had the chance to speak when each of the 298 page numbers of the relevant agenda item was read out by Cllr Haymes, but few did so.

Cllr Jonathan Charles (Barnham) was one of those who did. He questioned whether the bypass route had been already decided.

Arun head of planning policy and conservation Simon Meecham denied this and explained the council had decided on the re-alignment but not the route.

Some 15 Villages Action Group members filled the public seats at the meeting at the Arun Civic Centre.

Mr Turner said the turn-out at an inconvenient time for working people showed the strength of opposition to the bypass and housing.

It was wrong many of the documents issued were confidential when the internet made it easy to be transparent.

The local plan will be issued for more comment after a special council meeting on May 29.