80-bed hotel, gym, pubs, offices and 1,000 new jobs at new Bognor enterprise centre

The bid to redevelop the Salt Box Field land off Rowan Way would create up to 1,000 new jobs and generate £15.8m for the area a year, the developer behind it says.

Landlink Estates’ hybrid application (BE/102/17/OUT) seeks full permission for a large Warburtons bread storage and distribution facility, fuel station, parking and servicing areas.

It also seeks outline permission for an 80-bedroom hotel, 540sqm pub and restaurant, two drive-thru restaurants, a 870sqm gym and a large amount of employment units to attract businesses to relocate.

The planning documents, prepared by Mango Planning & Development Ltd, state that following a meeting with Bersted Parish Council on August 1, ‘feedback received was predominantly positive, with investments and new jobs for Bognor welcomed. Concerns were raised in relation to traffic impacts on the highway network’.

Landlink said pedestrian links would also be looked at further, as well as the options for cycle ways along Shripney Road.

Salt Box Field is a seven-hectare agricultural field, bound by the A29 to the east, a caravan site to the south and to the west and south, the boundary of Bersted Brooks Local Nature Reserve.

A 100m ‘village buffer’ would be maintained from Shripney homes, including a flood attenuation basin.

The site is one of four Enterprise Bognor Regis sites identified by Arun District Council, and named a strategic employment site in Arun’s draft local plan.

Access would be from the west side of the A29/A259 roundabout.

It would deliver a £33,7 million capital investment and between 500 to 1,000 new jobs at the site, and £119,656 in business rates.

“There are simply not enough jobs in Arun district to support the local population,” the planning statement says. “In 2015, there were just 0.63 jobs for every 16-64 year old resident.

“By contrast, there are more jobs in neighbouring Chichester than there are 16-64 year old residents.”

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