Hundreds join housing march

More than 200 people marched on County Hall on Saturday in protest over urbanisation of their area.

The March for Manhood and the Harbour Villages saw concerned residents meet in Priory Park, Chichester, before they headed to County Hall, armed with a petition of more than 5,000 signatures against the urbanisation of the peninsula.

In a statement prior to the march, campaigner Roger Mavity said: “If we need new homes, we need them where there are jobs, where there is proper sewage disposal and proper transport links, and where the land is not going to become sea in our grandchildren’s lifetimes.”

More than 200 people marched on County Hall on Saturday in protest over urbanisation of their area.

The March for Manhood and the Harbour Villages saw concerned residents meet in Priory Park, Chichester, before they headed to County Hall, armed with a petition of more than 5,000 signatures against the urbanisation of the peninsula.

Campaigner Roger Mavitys aid: “In the Chi chester area, more than 70 percent of the land can’ t be built on as it is a national park: meaning that 100 percent of the quota must be build on less than 30 percent of the land, namely the Manhood Peninsula and the neighbouring coastal villages.

“And that 30 per cent is wildly unsuitable for new home building – sewage disposal is managed by Southern Water, recently fined £90million for illegally dumping untreated human faeces into Chichester harbour and the sea nearby.”

He added: “Plans to remedy the problem have been gathering dust for years as no-one in local government seems able to break the logjam. It’s an area of farms and retirement homes: there is no local industry to generate new jobs to go with new houses. If we need new homes, we need them where there are jobs, where there is proper sewage disposal and proper transport links, and where the land is not going to become sea in our grandchildren’s lifetimes.”