West Sussex housing development - The story so far after discovery of Roman settlement

The remains of a Roman settlement have been found during an archaeological dig in Tangmere – to support the planning process for the development of 1,300 homes and community facilities.

Countryside Properties (UK) Ltd is working with Chichester District Council and Tangmere Parish Council on the development at Tangmere Village.

Here’s the story so far, with various delays hindering progress before the latest discovery:

– April/May 2019: Countryside Properties (UK) Ltd is appointed to to bring forward the development of new homes and community facilities for the strategic site on land to the west of Tangmere;

– On-site surveys and groundwork investigations are carried out. These continue for six months as the team started the process of preparing a masterplan and an outline planning application;

– Programme of engagement worked up in June and community drop-in sessions held;

– Southern Water activity: Water company announced plans to build a new 10km sewer pipeline to run from the west of Chichester, across the north of the city and through to Tangmere, where it would connect to the Tangmere Wastewater Treatment Works;

– September 2019: The project team held a community consultation event at Tangmere Village Fair;

– November 2019: Submission of framework masterplan. Presented to council and local community;

– February / March 2020: ‘Significant progress’ made on the masterplan;

– At a full council meeting on March 3, 2020 Chichester District Council resolved to make the required Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) to deliver new homes and community facilities at the Tangmere Strategic Development Location (SDL) site;

– Covid strikes: Chichester District Council decided to temporarily suspend its plans to make a Compulsory Purchase Order;

– November 2020: Chichester District Council made a CPO. The outline planning application for the Tangmere SDL was submitted to CDC for its consideration in November 2020;

– Planning Committee approved the Outline planning application for the Tangmere SDL, which will bring forward up to 1,300 new homes, 30 per cent being affordable, with a primary school and a number of exciting new community and commercial facilities at Tangmere – along with significant areas of public open space that make up around half of the site, including allotments and a community orchard;

– September 2021: The public inquiry in relation to the CPO took place between September 7 and 9;

– December 2021/January 2022 : CDC received confirmation that the CPO had been confirmed;

– February / March 2022: CDC formally published a ‘notice of confirmation’ of the CPO for the Tangmere Strategic Development Location (SDL) for a six week period from December 23, 2021. A number of surveys were carried out on the site in the following months;

– December 2022: Countryside submitted revisions to the planning application with an amended ‘red line’ site boundary to take this into account;

– June 2023: Countryside announced there had been a minor amendment to the red line boundary in response to resident feedback which would remove 0.34ha of land to the west of Saxon Meadows from the site boundary; the revised red line boundary is shown below in the updated illustrative masterplan. This was a technical change that would retain an existing meadow, and it will not change the scheme beyond part of the proposed orchard being located elsewhere within the site;

– August 2023: The outline planning application was taken back to Planning committee where it again received a resolution to grant permission;

– March 2024: The technical evaluations undertaken to support the planning process for the Tangmere Strategic Development Location (SDL) have identified areas of archaeological interest on the site, which includes the remains of a Roman settlement.

What is planned at the site

The Tangmere SDL encompasses approximately 189 acres of land to the west of the village that has been allocated for development within the Chichester Local Plan (2014-2029) and the Tangmere Neighbourhood Plan for around 1,000 new homes.

The emerging Chichester Local Plan Review 2035 proposes to increase this to 1,300 homes. The ambition for the SDL is for the delivery of new homes and associated infrastructure including a school, open space and community facilities, planned as a well-integrated extension to Tangmere.

A spokesperson for the award-winning developer said: “With over 60 years’ experience of building new homes and communities, Countryside prides itself on working in partnership with communities to create places that people want to be a part of.

"We will be working closely with Tangmere Parish, Chichester District and West Sussex County Councils to deliver high quality and sustainable new homes that will form part of the ‘One Village’ vision set within the Tangmere Neighbourhood Plan.”

As a result of the discovery of a Roman settlement, the University College of London's (UCL) Archaeology South-East team will be undertaking archaeological excavations across 14 hectares of the site over the course of the next three years.

A spokesperson added: “The excavation will cover 14 hectares, with work commencing in April 2024 and running until late 2026.

"During this time, the archaeological team will initially access the site via Copse Farm, off Tangmere Road, and from September 2024 via the A285/A27 roundabout.

"Two site compounds will be set up and signage will be displayed at all site entrances. To minimise any disruption, working hours will be confined to 8am - 4pm from Monday to Thursday and 8am - 3.30pm on Fridays. No work will be carried out on the weekends or on bank holidays.

“We will keep the community up to date and, if you have any questions, you can contact the team via [email protected] or 0808 168 8296.”

This newspaper has asked the project team how the discovery will impact the housing plans, i.e. how will it affect the timetable for building and will plans have to change to preserve the finds.