®Planning appeal decision
Land at Stubcroft Farm, Church Road, East Wittering, West Sussex, PO20 8PU
the erection of residential dwellings (including affordable housing), associated highway and landscape works, open space and flexible retail and community floorspace (Use Classes E and F)
- Authority
- Chichester District Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Inquiry
- Development
- residential · Major dwellings
- Inspector
- Harwood A
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- the risks of flooding of the site due to coastal flooding on the basis of the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) modelling for future flood risk and whether a Sequential Test is required
- the effect of the proposals upon the highway network with respect to the level of financial contribution towards A27 mitigation
- The effect of the proposals on the supply of the best and most versatile agricultural land
What decided it
The failure to demonstrate that the appeal sites were safe from future coastal flood risk, triggering an unmet requirement for a Sequential Test, combined with the loss of best and most versatile agricultural land, outweighed the benefits of the schemes.
The substantial benefits of housing and affordable housing delivery, together with moderate accessibility benefits and limited economic benefits, did not outweigh the unresolved flood risk harm and the adverse effect on best and most versatile agricultural land, and conflict with the development plan as a whole.
Framework references: 11, 168, 226
Plan policies cited: LP Policy 2, LP Policy 4, LP Policy 42, LP Policy 8, LP Policy 9, LP Policy 48, LP Policy 45, LP Policy 34
The main issues and the deciding factor are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.