Plan to build 63 homes refused
Plans to build 63 homes in Hambrook have been refused by Chichester District Council.
The application for the Willowbrook Riding Centre, in Hambrook Hill South, was given the thumbs-down by members of the planning committee on Wednesday, December 6.
The site sits in the middle of a wildlife corridor which includes the Ham Brook – a rare chalk stream which is classed as a priority habitat.
While officers had recommended the plans for approval, the committee agreed almost unanimously that to do so would fly in the face of the Southbourne Neighbourhood Plan when it came to protecting that habitat.
This was the fourth time the application had been considered by the council.
It had been deferred three times since being submitted in 2021 – once so that officers could seek clarification about proposed changes to the planning system, once for a site visit, and again in October to wait for an examiner’s report regardingtheneighbourhood Plan to be published.
The decision to refuse will no doubt please the 180 people who sent letters of objection to the council. As for the committee members themselves, they struggled to find anything positive to say about the plans. Sarah Quail (Lib Dem, Chichester West) said: “We are building in a wildlife corridor, we are compromising the chalk stream and I cannot possibly support this proposal.”
She also wondered whether allowing the development on a wildlife corridor would essentially set a precedent for future applications.
Roy Briscoe (Con, Westbourne) said officers had worked tirelessly to make the scheme acceptable – but described the development as ‘piecemeal’ and added that he shared concerns raised about flooding and the proximity of the chalk stream.