Arun housing shocker

AROUND 1,100 homes could be built on nursery sites north of Littlehampton, in the biggest single housing development seen in the town for decades.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Jul 2006, 18:38 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 01:12 BST

Consultants for a consortium of landowners, led by Greencore Group, which owns a large nursery site at Toddington Lane, have begun briefing councillors and community groups over their proposals, which would also aim to provide new jobs and community facilities.

They stress that the scheme is at a very early stage and that the informal consultations will help them to shape the plans to meet Littlehampton's needs.

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Town and Arun councillors and Littlehampton Civic Society members are among those briefed so far, and the talks have been held against the background of 200-300 homes planned for former playing fields near Littlehampton Community School, which have provoked widespread criticism.

Today, the Gazette can also reveal that the same area could end up with around 1,800 new homes built since the late 1990s, not even counting the Greencore proposals (see P12 and 13).

The consortium's proposals, for approximately 120 acres of land at Toddington, east of the A284 and close to the railway line, would include substantial transport investment "that would have significant benefits for the town", said a spokesman.

The site was being put forward to Arun as a "logical urban extension to the town", to be considered as part of the council's planning blueprint, the local development framework.

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Project director for the consortium, Tony Burton, said: "We firmly consider that the best way to progress our plans is to understand the challenges and issues that currently face the Littlehampton community and it is through early consultation with various stakeholders that this is best achieved.

"This community engagement will help to shape our proposals, which we consider will positively contribute to the town's future and alleviate some of the existing issues it faces."

A similar scheme, for 1,000 homes, was ruled out of Arun's local plan four years ago for being too remote from the town centre.

Civic society member Wilf Daggett felt the scheme was "awful", adding: "It will gobble up a lot of countryside between Littlehampton and Arundel.

For the full report see this week's Gazette.