Drainage treated as an ‘afterthought’ on 175-home Angmering development

Parish councillors said they were delighted after plans for 175 homes in Angmering were postponed after concerns were raised about drainage.
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Outline permission for the site in Water Lane was given in 2019 but members of Arun District Council’s development control committee were not willing to give the final nod.

During a meeting on Wednesday (January 6), Andy Cooper (Con, Angmering & Findon) told the committee: “There is very good reason why the road it joins is called Water Lane – it does flood regularly.”

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The committee voted to defer the application for four reasons- to fully scrutinise the drainage scheme, to explore concerns about landscaping raised by the South Downs National Park, to look into whether fewer homes should be built on the site, and to make sure the Angmering Advisory Group was consulted.

Proposed layout of the northern part of the siteProposed layout of the northern part of the site
Proposed layout of the northern part of the site

The last point was highlighted by Jacky Pendleton (Con, Middleton-on-Sea) who felt there had been a lack of recent consultation with locals and the plans were being ‘steamrollered’ through.

News of the deferral was welcomed by Angmering Parish Council.

During the meeting, chair Nikki Hamilton-Street stressed that the Water Lane site was at the entrance to the village and the development needed to be of the highest standard.

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She accused applicant Barratt David Wilson of only wanting to ‘concrete over the land’ and ‘provide a healthy profit to shareholders’, adding that it was unacceptable that drainage had been ‘an afterthought’.

After the meeting, a statement from the parish said: “The acknowledgement by the development control committee that the community needed to be taken along with the development and not railroaded was a welcome statement and the parish council hope that the discussions at an Angmering Advisory Committee in the near future will ensure that this issues will be able to be addressed.”

To view the application, log on to www.arun.gov.uk/planning and search for A/109/20/RES.