I am writing to comment on the Council's Draft Statement for the following reasons:

• Flooding issues must be front and centre of all of this. New houses cannot be built until existing stock has been
protected. This is one of the highest risk areas in the country and it is ridiculous to even consider building here
before sea defences have been put in place. Building houses that will be unable to get house insurance, and
are likely to be inundated within 40 years is immoral. Only sites above a safe level should be considered and
Chichester’s harbour area and coastal plain are too vulnerable already.

• Once the land of the South Downs National Park and the AONB has been subtracted from the equation there
is insufficient space left to provide building land for all this development. This will lead to calls to build on farm
land, which would be completely bonkers as we are heading for food shortages soon and need more farming
space not less. We need to become more self-sufficient, not be increasing the food-miles. Filling in the strategic
gaps between villages along the A259, for example, is a terrible prospect along with compromising the landscape
and view from and to the South Downs. Only brown field sites should be considered for development.

• 'First things first' should also be the plan for dealing with the waste water from all this development. The pollution
in the harbour is dreadful already without having extra from all these potential new houses. Proper infrastructure
needs to be in place before any new building takes place.

Essentially the proposed new development of 12,500 house by 2035 is inappropriate, unsustainable and unrealistic
without large infrastructure investment. This needs to be sorted first before rushed, back of the envelope plans are
pushed through.