Plans For 11 Houses 'Reluctantly' Approved By Arun District Council

Sunday, 2 August 2020 06:00

By Local Democracy Reporter

Plans to demolish a 200-year-old converted barn and replace it with 11 houses have been ‘reluctantly’ approved by Arun District Council.

The application for The Steddles, in North End Road, caused some concern among members of the development control committee, with questions asked about road safety, the distance to the nearest shops and the loss of a building that was ‘part of Yapton’s past’.

But, with planning permission already in place for seven other developments surrounding the site, the committee accepted that its hands were more or less tied.

Isabel Thurston (Green, Barnham) called the situation a tragedy and pointed out that the council had tried not to approve most of those applications.

But Neil Crowther, group head of planning, warned they would find it ‘impossible’ to argue that the current scheme was unsustainable.

To do so would likely see the council lose another costly planning appeal – something that has happened more and more often over the past year.

Martin Lury (Lib Dem, Bersted) agreed but said not preserving The Steddles, which appears on Tithe maps dating back to 1836, was ‘an abomination’.

Grant Roberts (Con, Arundel & Walberton) voted in favour of the plans because he didn’t think the council would have a leg to stand on if it was refused.

Worried about the cumulative effect of traffic and the safety of cyclists, Mr Roberts said the council ‘needed to have a conversation’ about how to improve public transport in an area that will soon have hundreds more residents.

The ever-increasing pressure on the roads in the area from more and more housing prompted Ricky Bower (Con, East Preston) to call on Arun’s county councillors for help.

He said:

“I do accept that the pressure on this particular road is a difficulty.

“But when we have a highways authority that seems to think that all roads in this area can carry however much traffic it wishes to see loaded onto it, it’s something that we can’t, as the local planning authority, stand up to.

“We need assistance from our county councillors in order to try and improve the road network in the area.”

The new development will be made up of two two-bedroom, seven three-bedroom and two four-bedroom houses.

The application was approved by ten votes to four.

By Local Democracy Reporter.