Concern over reform plans

Government planning reforms are the ‘worst of all worlds and will be the ruination of Chichester’, campaigners have warned.

Government planning reforms are the ‘worst of all worlds and will be the ruination of Chichester as we know it’, campaigners have warned.

As proposed in the White Paper the district’s housing requirement would go up significantly, with warnings that extra new development would have to be ‘squeezed’ into the area between the South Downs National Park and the Chichester Harbour Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

A spokesman for Save Our South Coast Alliance said:

“The zoning proposals for the area is crude to say the least but will be disastrous for Chichester, where just 70 per cent of land is already protected, being AONB and national park, this leaves the rest of the land available heavily exposed.

“Development will be poured into the other areas irrespective of the flooding in our low lying coastal plain, the preciousness of chalk streams, and wildlife corridors, all of which are now under very serious threat.”

The campaign group believes the proposals are ‘the worst of all worlds and will be the ruination of Chichester as we know it’.

Fishbourne Parish Council has raised concerns about Government thinking not fully taking into account the significance of neighbourhood planning.

It has found a ‘worryingly recurring mismatch’ between the intentions expressed in the proposals and the proposed actions.

Geoff Hand, parish council chairman, said: “Neighbourhood plans should not only be retained in the reformed planning system but should have their role strengthened and guaranteed and communities should not have their freedom to express their views restricted by Government.”

The Chichester Society’s response to the White Paper consultation argues the changes treat all parts of England in the same way, irrespective of individual character or geographical constraints.

It also points out how in Chichester, so much of the drive for new housing is due to the ‘insatiable demand from those elsewhere in England seeking to relocate’.

It calls for priority of new housing to be given to local residents and young people.

Have your say at www. gov.uk/government/ consultations/changes-tothe-current-planning-system

See page 13 for more on the issue.