Whilst I am in general agreement with it I have the following specific comments and suggestions:
I strongly support paragraph 2.3 – to guide development to appropriate and sustainable locations. I propose that opportunity sites should be proactively sought within the city itself, for high quality high density housing at this the most sustainable location within the District.
I would refer to paragraph 8 of the NPPF 2019 whereby all sites under consideration must meet the three overarching objectives for sustainability- all of which are interdependent. Sustainable development means economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. Much development within the District completed recently or under way fails to meet the principle of sustainability. To take just two examples, Madgwick Park is neither integrated with the city of Chichester nor with the village of Westhampnett and has destroyed the rural gap between the two. And phase 1 of Whitehouse Farm will sit as an outlier within the rural surroundings of the city and destroy the former clear demarcation between town and country.
Paragraphs 2.4 (1)and 6.2 (9) I suggest that the council should immediately open negotiations with the owners of two major brownfield sites within the city, ie WSCC’s Tannery site at Westgate (already on the register of brownfield sites) for which there appears to be no interest in commercial use, and the former House of Fraser department store (not yet on the register of brownfield sites) where it seems unlikely that there will be any interest in either major retail or commercial development. Both sites would be suitable for high quality housing development whilst safeguarding designated heritage assets.
And finally, I would draw your attention to an article I wrote in 2018: ‘How brownfield’sites can help solve our housing crisis’ (see the Chichester Society website: newsletters, issue 197, June 2018) where I propose identifying what I called ‘potential brownfield sites’ i.e. sites which would be suitable for housing development if the present uses were moved to other more suitable locations. Much of the city’s housing development has in fact been on just such sites but I am suggesting the proactive encouragement by the council to free up such sites, rather than to await responses by developers and landowners of yet more greenfield sites to the council’s next ‘call for sites.’