Oving homes next to A27 turned down

An outline application for 100 homes on the site was approved on appeal by a planning inspector back in 2017.

A subsequent reserved matters application for the land, on the corner of Oving Road and west of the A27, was then approved by Chichester District Council in late 2019.

However developers have come back with revised plans for 143 homes, but these have now been refused by council officers.

They highlighted the proposed development’s poor layout, lack of pepper-potting of affordable units, lack of pedestrian and cyclist permeability with the city and an insufficient commitment to minimising carbon emissions.

The decision report argues that too much affordable housing is concentrated in the western part of the site, which would ‘result in a segregated, unbalanced and unsustainable community’.

Meanwhile the majority of parking spaces in this part of the site would be provided in the form of parking bays meaning ‘continuous lengths of hard standing with little relief’.

Officers also suggested too much housing was crammed into the south-west corner, compromising the layout with a three-storey block of flats next to a row of terraced properties.

A pedestrian and cycle link in the north-west corner so new residents can cross the A27 to access the city centre is seen as important.

But officers said the applicant had refused to enter into an agreement to deliver the required off-site highway works to enable this link.

They suggested whilst parts of the site would function well, the overall layout is ‘considered unacceptable’.

The report added: “The local planning authority have sought to work proactively with the applicant and have suggested amendments to overcome these issues, however, the applicant wishes for the application to be determined in its current form.”

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