N Bersted shopsthriving '“ survey

A survey carried out by Arun District Council showed that all 32 retail units in Royal Parade along Chichester Road were occupied. The thriving area is the largest of the 34 identified retailing sites '“ with four or more premises '“ around the district with every unit filled.

Among the businesses based there is Cake Magic owned by mother and daughter, Linda and Dawn Charge. The cake makers bought their shop eight years ago.

Dawn said it had proved an ideal site for them. 'There are a lot of people who live around here and a lot of them really want to support their local shops,' she stated. 'They say they don't want any of us to go and they make a point of coming in and using us.'

She said the shops, and those on the opposite side of Chichester Road, were some of the few to benefit from free parking outside the premises.

They also gained from being on such a major road and with a bus route and bus stop right outside. All this helped to promote the varied businesses.

They ranged from a fish and chip shop to a post office and convenience store, to an imported vegetable seller, estate agents, solicitor and pet shop.

'We are not too far out but we are far enough from the town to make people want to come here rather than get into their car and pay to park in the town centre to do shopping,' Dawn added.

The results of the survey were adopted by all Arun's councillors last week as their policy.

It was carried out late last year with site visits by council officers to provide the council with up- to-date information for its latest planning policies.

The government requires each planning authority, such as the district council, to identify shopping centres and the area which they serve.

This hierarchy is used to control the type of uses and scale of development envisaged in each centre through planning decisions. It will also help to show where new housing should best be built to enable the occupiers to shop locally. The survey confirmed that Bognor Regis easily had the biggest retail concentration in the district. Of its 360 commercial premises, 342 were occupied. This gave a 95 per cent occupancy rate.

The size of the area has led the district council to submit a case for Bognor being acknowledged as a secondary regional retailing centre when the new South East Plan is agreed.

This is the same status in planning terms as Chichester.

Bognor's place at the top of Arun's shopping hierarchy is followed by local centres in the west of the district of Aldwick Road (54 premises), Felpham village (53), Barnham (36), Middl-eton (30), Rose Green (22), Royal Parade in North Bersted (32) and Walberton (8).

Other retailing areas identified were Aldwick Street, Chichester Road/Hawthorn Road, Elmer Road, Felpham Way, Fontwell, Coastguards Parade in Aldwick, Pagham, West Meads and Yapton.