We recommend that the BLD at Southbourne be CIL-exempt to catalyse the delivery of the infrastructure associated with the scheme and avoid the village’s infrastructure funding being stagnated within a larger and district-wide funding mechanism.

We acknowledge the emerging plan’s shift away from ‘predict and provide’ approach to recommending mitigation based on forecast growth, to an approach of ‘monitor and manage’, based on identifying a package of potential highway improvements which alongside schemes identified through the development management process, may be implemented following a monitoring process that will monitor the actual demand on the network and the requirement for the schemes.

We consider that a shift instead towards ‘vision and validate’ would be more aspirational for the plan. This approach will allow our Consortium to best envisage the place that Chichester District wants to create at Southbourne, and to target sustainable transport measures, alongside a carefully planned new community, that minimises travel needs and provides genuine sustainable options for movement. Such an approach needs to reimagine the hierarchy of transport users, prioritising pedestrians first, followed by cyclists, public transport, specialist service vehicles and finally other motor traffic. The scheme should prioritise support and encouragement for sustainable travel in line with this new hierarchy whilst now linking transport intrinsically with masterplanning, carbon reduction, air quality, health and lifestyle and biodiversity, instead of seeing it as a standalone consideration. We would therefore recommend Chichester District encourage ambitious developers to explore the ‘vision and validate’ approach within draft Policy T1

The land east of Southbourne will deliver a comprehensive development that also secures benefits for the existing community, including:

Delivery of a significant portion of the Green Ring, in both a central location and also an enhanced, longer walking route around the edge of the allocation. This has the benefit of creating a meaningful gap between settlements that is focused on the delivery of environmental enhancements and a wildlife corridor, whilst also offering alternative longer route for walking/recreation, reducing pressure on the Chichester Harbour SPA.
A connected integrated community that delivers sustainable transport improvements and alternatives for the whole of Southbourne.
A focus on connectivity through the green ring and connecting green corridors that focus movement on walking and cycling, rather than vehicular travel.
A central community hub that can deliver a new 2FE primary school, a community building, small scale retail and an enterprise hub to support homeworking, shared office space and start-ups.

With regards to the proposed S106 contribution per dwelling of £7,728 to act as A27 mitigation, we are concerned that this is not justified (see attached note from i-Transport). Furthermore, the imposition of CIL on the scheme at Southbourne would reduce the level of control over the above package of infrastructure improvements and sustainable movement provision associated with the development. With a contribution made to Chichester District in place of direct involvement of the consortium in the improvements to the village infrastructure, there is a risk that the enhancements that form a key element of the proposal may be delayed or fail to be delivered in a timescale that would best benefit the residents of the village.

Considering the above, we recommend that the BLD at Southbourne be CIL-exempt to catalyse the delivery of the infrastructure associated with the scheme and avoid the village’s infrastructure funding being stagnated within a larger and district-wide funding mechanism.