Calls for leadership as local plan ‘in a mess’
Chichester District Council has called for understanding from the public over the latest delay to its Local Plan Review, which is now not scheduled to be adopted until 2023.
The plan, which lays out the framework for future development in the area, was due to be reviewed and adopted in July 2020 but has been delayed three times.
During a meeting of the full council on Friday, members gave the nod to the new timetable while also agreeing to ‘knock heads together’ to get things done.
There have been two main issues delaying the review – the lack of sufficient waste water infrastructure to meet the needs of thousands of new homes imposed on the district by the government, and whether local roads, especially the A27, could cope with the traffic.
Work with the likes of Southern Water and Highways England to address the issues has been slow, prompting the council to file an official complaint with the Water Services Regulation Authority, Ofwat.
This has since led to ‘constructive’ meetings with both organisations.
While recognising the challenges faced by the council, opposition members called for action.
John-henry Bowden (Lib Dem, Chichester West) said the council needed to admit that the Local Plan Review was ‘in a mess’ and should apologise to residents and ask for their understanding.
The lack of an up-todate Local Plan leaves the council vulnerable to applications from developers wanting to build wherever they see fit.
Mr Bowden compared the situation to that of the Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah, who saw that if the ‘establishment’ didn’t change its ways it would be destroyed.
He said: “Like Jeremiah, we are facing a similar situation – facing the destruction of our district through the inability to protect it from invaders – developers submitting speculative planning applications against which we have weak defences and which, if built, will be without effective drains or roads.
“And the lack of drains and roads will quickly destroy our unique harbour and its surroundings, and will gradually undermine the health of our people by contaminated air.”
Kate O’kelly (Ldem, Harting) called on the leadership to ‘channel [their] inner Michael Gove’ and ‘lead and drive the project, with energy, tenacity and above all not taking no for an answer’.
As well as approving the new timetable for the Local Plan Review, members agreed that a progress report would be presented to the council in July to allow a full debate on the next stage.
After the meeting, the Chichester Harbour Trust said it welcomed consideration of the challenges affecting delivery of the new local plan, particularly on wastewater treatment, transport infrastructure and the impact on our unique coastal environment.
John Nelson, the trust’s chairman, said: “In listening to the council debate on Friday, we were encouraged to see that the council members are now, for the first time, taking seriously the concerns around the local plan that we, the local communities and other organisations have been expressing over a long period of time.
“The production of the local plan will require a great deal of urgent work on the infrastructure issues; on the environmental issues; and on the landscape and wildlife issues.
“It will also require a new and imaginative approach on site selection, distribution, densities, wildlife corridors, impact on agriculture, adapting to the radical economic changes (particularly the impact of reduced retail on land availability) – and the need to adapt the plan to avoid increasing flood plain issues caused by climate change.”