Para 6.63
As a resident of Fishbourne for over 40 years, I have seen the village double in size by the turn of the century and grow by a further 30% since the 2001 Census. As a result, the land available for sustainable development has been used up and it was agreed that 50 homes would be an appropriate allocation for our Neighbourhood Plan 2014-2029.
I was therefore surprised to find the allocation for Fishbourne in the revised Local Plan set at 250 (five times the earlier allocation) and alarmed when this seemed to be an arbitrary allocation since no-one could give me a rationale or formula for the calculation. An attempt is made in para 6.63 but the basic facts on which the argument is based are totally untrue: (1) Far from needing growth to sustain it, the local primary school is oversubscribed with children who live in Fishbourne and so families moving into the village have to search for schools further afield.
(2) Similarly the Fishbourne Centre is so well-used it is having to adapt the current meeting spaces into a flexible format so that more functions can be run at any one time.
(3) And the suggestion that Fishbourne needs to promote the vitality of the village beggars belief! In the last decade, the Parish Council has obtained a million pounds of outside money to spend on facilities including its much admired Centre and Playing Field and to contribute to the development of the Pre-School (OFSTED: Outstanding) and the new Church Hall. Fishbourne has a strong community spirit the latest example of which is the Fishbourne Companions. Through its earlier Village Plans and its Neighbourhood Plan, Fishbourne has a track record of listening to its community and finding ways of meeting these needs. Does this sound like a village that needs population growth to promote its vitality?