Chichester Harbour Conservancy has welcomed the official adoption of the Chichester District Local Plan, a move that CEO Matt Briers says will bring a degree of much-needed certainty to planning and development in and around Chichester Harbour National Landscape.
The adopted Local Plan covers the area of the Chichester District that includes the Chichester Harbour National Landscape designated area within West Sussex.
The Local Plan identifies housing requirements and development areas to support economic growth and deliver new homes over the next 14 years. It includes a wide range of new policies aimed at protecting and conserving the natural environment. This Local Plan will play an important role in protecting the boundary of the National Landscape from over development.
Matt Briers said, “We have been very concerned about planning decisions taken in recent years where, without an adopted Local Plan, planning appeal decisions have overturned local planning decisions. Large scale developments have been permitted at Nutbourne, Chidham, Bosham and Birdham. We firmly believe these developments will cumulatively have an irreversible and detrimental impact on Chichester Harbour National Landscape.”
Chichester Harbour is nationally and internationally important for its habitats and wildlife, and is quite rightly regarded as one of the nation’s National Landscapes, which should be resolutely protected by the planning system.
Matt Briers added, “Recent Planning Inspectorate (PINS) decisions demonstrated a fundamental refusal to take into account the sensitive locations of large scale local planning applications and their potential to do significant harm to the character and setting of the National Landscape.”
Following a series of decisions by the PINS within the last 2 years, more than 750 new dwellings have been permitted near the boundary of the protected landscape. These new sites are only the width of the road away, and Chichester Harbour Conservancy took the view that developments like these should be set much further away from the National Landscape boundary.
Matt Briers said, “We trust this plan will provide the safeguards needed to prevent further urbanisation around the National Landscape and maintain the integrity of this exceptional environment for future generations.”