Developer resubmits 300-home scheme for Pagham

A developer has resubmitted plans for 300 homes in Pagham after they were rejected by councillors earlier this year.
Illustrative artist's impression of new homes planned for Pagham off Hook LaneIllustrative artist's impression of new homes planned for Pagham off Hook Lane
Illustrative artist's impression of new homes planned for Pagham off Hook Lane

Arun District Council has recently approved two schemes in the village, 400 homes south of Summer Lane and 280 dwellings north of Sefter Road.

However a third large-scale housing application for land north of Hook Lane was refused by the council’s development control committee in January.

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Hallam Land Management has appealed against the decision, with a planning inspector due to make a decision later this year.

In the meantime the developer has resubmitted the scheme to the council.

Councillors rejected the application on the grounds that the increased traffic generated by the development would exacerbate capacity issues on the highway network and mitigation measures proposed were insufficient to overcome safety issues.

But in a cover letter to the council Owen Jones, director at LRM Planning, pointed out that proposed highway mitigation measures are based on a cumulative assessment of traffic effects of 1,200 homes proposed for Pagham in the local plan.

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He added: “These mitigation measures are to be provided jointly and separately by the development proposals at Pagham. It is important to recognise that the council approved planing permission for three other planning applications at Pagham, totalling 745 dwellings which each are based on the same highway mitigation measures.

“No evidence has been produced to justify why the proposed development at Hook Lane is in some way different such that planning permission can justifiably be refused.”

The outline application includes an 80-bed care home and D1 uses of up to 4,000 sqm including a two-form entry primary school.

A document submitted by the developer says the previous application ‘sought planing permission in the same form as this current application’.

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It suggests councillors ‘acted unreasonably and against the advice of the council’s professional planning officers’ by refusing the first application.

The application concludes: “The material benefits of the proposed development are considerable. It will provide both private and affordable housing of a suitable scale commensurate with the status of Pagham, increasing the supply of new housing generally in the district and at a location deemed suitable for future development and well related facilities, job opportunities and public transport.”

At January’s committee meeting where the application was refused officers pointed out how the site was allocated in Arun’s recently made local plan, while West Sussex County Council as the highways authority had not objected to the application.

Councillors were told that the planning application only had to mitigate the impact of the extra traffic generated by the new homes on the road network and should not be refused because it did not solve existing problems.

To comment visit www.arun.gov.uk/weekly-lists using code P/30/19/OUT.