Schedule of proposed changes to policies map - Preferred Approach

We wish to support this policy.

The Berkeley Group is the sole owner of Lawrence Farm which forms part of the land that is allocated for development by Policy AL6. Lawrence Farm is extends to 3.67 hectares and is located adjacent to the Fishbourne roundabout. The site is referred to in the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment as CC08209A and it remains both available and deliverable.

We support the principle of improving the Fishbourne roundabout and the provision of a new link road connecting the A27/A259 Fishbourne roundabout and A286 Birdham Road. Lawrence Farm can help to facilitate and deliver the roundabout improvements and the northernmost part of the link road. We would therefore like to work collaboratively with the Council and the adjoining landowners to support the allocation of the site as the Local Plan progresses.

We believe that the land to the South-West of Chichester is a sustainable location for development. It is located adjacent to the built-up area of Chichester, the largest and most sustainable settlement in the District, and benefits from being approximately one mile from the train station and the high street.

Policy S8: Meeting Local Employment Needs includes 145,835m2 floorspace as identified in the Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment (HEDNA) and an additional 86,000m2 of floorspace as an allowance for future losses. The HEDNA includes four scenarios for employment need which results in a wide range of floorspace requirements. We believe that total floorspace provision in Policy S8 might be overly ambitious for a couple of reasons. Firstly because the rate of future loss of employment is likely to slow down compared to the rate experienced by the Council when permitted development rights first came into effect and secondly, given the current and emerging economic uncertainties.

It will be important for the Local Plan to contain sufficient flexibility and to be able to react to economic changes during the Plan period. We would therefore recommend removing the reference to the acreage of employment land and number of new homes and including an additional sentence added at the end of the first paragraph to say:

"The final quantum of employment space and number of dwellings will be determined by an up-to-date market assessment to determine the viability of the proposals, the need for additional commercial floorspace and the demand for more housing at the time of submission."

We would like to work with the Council and the adjoining owners of land within Policy AL6 to understand if there is scope for Al6 to provide a greater number of new homes.

AL6 also represents a great opportunity to deliver a new country park and green infrastructure. The provision of strategic open space can not only assist with protecting the Chichester Harbour Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Solent Special Area of Conservation and the views of Chichester Cathedral spire, it can also help to achieve a net biodiversity gain.

As set out in Policy AL6, proposals will need to demonstrate that sufficient capacity will be available within the sewer network. We are happy to work with the adjoining landowners, Council, Southern Water, and other stakeholders to ensure that the Apuldram waste water treatment works can accommodate the development.

We anticipate that strategic highway improvements, new strategic open spaces and potential improvements to the Apuldram wastewater treatment are likely to have an impact on the viability of the allocation. The viability of AL6 will need to be considered in greater detail as the Local Plan progresses. A further advantage of AL6 providing more than 100 new homes is the potential to improvement to the viability of the allocation.

In order to enable and deliver the most suitable improvements to the Fishbourne roundabout, we recommend that the full extent of the land at Lawrence Farm is included in the Proposed Strategic Site Allocation AL6. The amendment of the accompanying plan for AL6 to include all of our client's land around the Fishbourne roundabout will not only maximise opportunities for the road to be provided within the red edge of the site, but also help to avoid complications later in the process.