Wick homes plan backed despite protest

The council’s development control committee will have the final say on the outline plans at a special meeting on Wednesday (July 13) next week.

The proposals sparked a hard-fought campaign by the Courtwick Lane Opposition Group (CLOG), which is opposing the scheme on the grounds of the loss of top-grade farmland and the impact on roads in the area from the extra traffic generated.

However, Littlehampton town, Arun district and West Sussex County council members and officers have pressed developers Gleesons hard for cash to provide much-needed infrastructure, including a £1m contribution towards building the Lyminster bypass.

Gleesons would also be expected to pay almost £1.3m towards primary school places, £303,000 towards health facilities, £160,000 for a bus service and £253,000 for a travel plan, as well as numerous other sums for pedestrian and cycle routes and a range of additional facilities.

Up to 30 per cent of the homes would be “affordable”, after officers negotiated hard with the developers, who initially wanted a lower figure.

In spite of all the gains for the community, an officers’ report to the committee reveals the scale of the opposition to the development, proposed for 33.6 hectares (81 acres) of land in the Courtwick Lane area.

Among the objectors are Littlehampton Town Council and Arundel Council, together with a petition signed by 120 people and 63 letters of opposition. Grounds of objection include the adverse effect on traffic flow al-ong the A259 road, the loss of high quality farmland, the adverse impact on the landscape and especially views to Arundel, the “inadequate” infrastructure, the lack of jobs for people living in the new homes, the significant increase in flood risk and the “huge” impact on existing residents.

In their report, Arun planning officers say that although the site is outside the boundary for Littlehampton’s built-up area set down by the council’s local plan, and is in a strategic gap intended to protect open countryside between the town and Arundel, those boundaries now carry significantly less weight because the plan does not provide for housing beyond 2011.

Any change in the rural aspect viewed from Arundel, approximately 2.5km away, would not be perceptible, although “glimpsed views” of Arundel from south of the site would be reduced or lost as a result of the proposed development.

Arun’s inability to prove it has a five-year supply of housing land made the need for new housing sites such as Courtwick all the more important, the report states. It also points out there were no highway issues resulting in significant adverse effects, and no objection on the grounds of flooding.

- Wednesday’s meeting is at Arun Civic Centre, Maltravers Road, Littlehampton at 12.30pm and is open to the public.