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Chichester District Council
CABINET AND COUNCIL 11 March 2013
Draft Local Plan Key Policies – Preferred Approach
Introduction to the draft Local Plan by David Twigg – Local Plan Manager
 The purpose of this proposal is to agree the next stage of formal public
consultation – known as Regulation 18. Under this regulation, we are seeking
comments on the Preferred Approach contained in the consultation draft.
 The draft Plan for consultation covers the parts of the District outside the
South Downs National Park. The National Park Authority is preparing its own
Local Plan.
 The Plan area has been divided into three sub-areas to reflect their distinctive
character and roles. The sub-areas are: the east-west – or A27 – corridor
stretching from Southbourne to Tangmere and including the city; the Manhood
Peninsula; and the north-eastern part of the District as well as
Hammer/Camelsdale.
 The Preferred Approach emphasises the importance of protecting the special
environmental qualities of these areas and seeks to strike an appropriate
balance with the need to accommodate opportunities for the homes, jobs and
facilities that are required.
 The Plan has a 15 years horizon. As it is anticipated that the Plan will be
adopted in late 2014, it will cover the period until 2029. In terms of projecting
future housing requirements we refer to the period 2012 to 2029, this is
because we cannot predict how much housing will come forward between
now and the adoption of the Plan.
 It is important to remember - not only that this is a consultation draft and
therefore an evolving and developing document – but also that once adopted
the Plan will be subject to continuous monitoring and may be revised from
time to time. Moreover, it is a living document insofar as it is an umbrella for
other more detailed plans, many of which will be community-led planning
documents.
 The draft Plan for consultation has been informed by extensive and
exhaustive research and consultation spanning a period of more than 3 years.
 An on-going process of consultation and dialogue is crucially important. As
well as the continual process of direct face to face engagement with
Members, Parish Councils, neighbouring authorities and other partners - we
have undertaken a number or wider consultation exercises including FoSGO

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in 2010, Housing Numbers and Locations in 2011, and Parish Housing
Numbers in 2012. The Sustainable Community Strategy which helped us to
define our vision and objectives for the draft Plan was also the subject of a
major community engagement exercise. This next stage of consultation will
help us to refine our thinking and provides a springboard for intensive talks
with infrastructure providers, statutory agencies and our neighbours.
 The process of evidence gathering has also been underpinned by a strong
ethos of co-operation and consultation. In addition to the Members workshops
that were held, we engaged with the business community on the Employment
Land Review, the Open Space Study was informed by a household
questionnaire, Parish Council Surveys and contact with sports and leisure
organisations and a youth panel, the Chichester Transport study saw all of the
key players sitting around the table and agreeing a package of mitigation
measures, the broad membership of the Wastewater Quality Group has
worked to identify a sustainable solution to address the capacity constraints
and the local authorities across the Coastal West Sussex sub-region have
joined together to assess and identify our needs for new homes and gypsy
and traveller sites.
 As required by the NPPF, a key part of the evidence for the draft Local Plan
consultation is the Coastal West Susses Strategic Housing Market
Assessment – or SHMA. We are expected to positively strive to meet as much
of the requirement identified by this study as possible, taking into account our
particular environmental and infrastructure constraints.
 Failure in this regard has been a major stumbling block at examination for
local councils up and down the country – including: East Hants, Hull City,
Ribble Valley, Rother, Rushcliffe, Ryedale, and Salford.
 The SHMA sets out a range of possible scenarios for the District as a whole
based on demographic and economic projections. These range from about
370 homes per year based of zero job growth – effectively economic
stagnation and decline – to as much as 750 homes per year based on
projections of potential employment growth. Both of these extremes have
been rejected. The lower end figures would fail to satisfy the Government’s
and District Council’s stated priorities for supporting the economy and the
upper end is unsustainable given our particular constraints.
 In the middle there are projections based on past population, demographic
and migration changes that suggest figures between about 440 and 500
homes per year for the whole district. Having regard to this middle range we
have tested our capacity to accommodate that level of development - taking
into account the potential land availability, the environmental constraints and
the critical mass of development that is needed to deliver the necessary
infrastructure improvements and community facilities.
 A key message of our draft consultation is that we are severely limited in our
capacity to provide the homes and jobs that are required by our environmental
and infrastructure constraints.

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 Protection of our landscape and heritage assets is a consistent theme running
through the whole of the draft Plan.
 Much of the Plan area is designated for environmental protection (e.g. Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty, Special Protection Areas, Ramsar and
Conservation Areas). Within these areas, and to some extent within the
surrounding hinterland, the scope for development is very restricted. In
addition, large parts of the Plan area are acknowledged to be visually
sensitive open countryside and coastal zones. A further environmental
constraint is the need to avoid areas that are identified as being highly
susceptible to flooding.
 The draft Preferred Approach aims to steer major development away from the
most environmentally sensitive areas and towards locations that have the
widest access to employment opportunities and community facilities, or where
development can contribute to addressing a lack of such facilities. Mostly,
these opportunities are focussed in the A27 corridor between Southbourne
and Tangmere; and especially around the City. To a lesser extent, in
recognition of the particular constraints on the Manhood, some growth is
planned at the settlement hubs of Selsey and East Wittering/Bracklesham.
Limited development is proposed elsewhere to help address local housing
needs in and around villages that have reasonable access to services.
 The capacity for new housing development at the city, the settlement hubs
and the Parish level has been assessed. The assessment takes into account,
among other things, the landscape and settlement character and the
availability of existing or planned wastewater capacity.
 The major strategic allocations at Chichester, Shopwhyke, Westhampnett and
Tangmere are linked to planned improvements to transport and wastewater
infrastructure. The level of development proposed in these locations is
considered to be sufficient and necessary to help render these improvements
viable and deliverable.
 In the light of our research and the concerns raised in previous consultations
the strategic allocations have been scaled back. West of Chichester has been
reduced from 2000 to 1000 during the life of the Plan, North East of
Chichester has been reduced from 1500 to a development of 500 focussed on
Westhampnett, the development allocation at Shopwyke has been reduced
from 700 to 500, and the allocation for the Settlement hub of East Wittering
and Bracklesham has been lowered from 450 to 100.
 Taking all of these factors into account, the Preferred Approach has identified
potential to deliver about 4,325 new homes up to 2029, in addition to existing
commitments and an allowance for small windfall sites.
 In total, this equates to 395 homes per year. We believe that this housing
figure is sufficiently realistic and justifiable to meet the tests of soundness at
examination.

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 The rates of development in the draft Local Plan would support modest rates
of economic growth consistent with the Council’s recently updated Economic
Development Strategy. Based on our latest Employment Land Review the
draft Plan proposes the allocation of an additional 25 hectares of employment
land. This comprises 20 hectares of land for industrial or warehousing space
and 5 hectares of land for office space. We have indicated how a proportion of
this space could be allocated alongside the strategic housing developments,
thereby ensuring that jobs and homes are co-located. We are undertaking
further site assessments to make up the remainder of the requirement and
this work will be the subject of further consultation.
 We are keen to ensure that local communities are involved in the
masterplanning of the strategic locations so that the developments bring
tangible benefits that match local aspirations for community facilities.
 Although we know that potential sites are available at the Settlement Hubs of
Southbourne, Selsey and East Wittering/Bracklesham, we have yet to allocate
specific sites in these locations. This is because we believe that the options
should be considered through consultation with the local communities. In the
case of Southbourne and Selsey they are actively preparing their
Neighbourhood Plans and this will be the mechanism for identifying sites.
 At East Wittering, the Parish Council’s have indicated to us that they do not
currently intend to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan, so we will identify the
options available and consult on these during the course of the summer, so
that they can be allocated in the draft Plan for pre-submission consultation.
 We will be making minor modifications to the draft consultation document to
make this position clear.
 Recent changes to the planning system are designed to address the criticism
that infrastructure always lags behind development. The introduction of a new
Local Plan will enable us to set a charge for new development, called the
Community Infrastructure Levy - CIL. The majority of new development will be
liable to pay this charge. This money will be paid when the scheme starts. As
a result, funds should be available to help address the higher order
infrastructure that will be required to support the Plan. Some of the money will
be paid direct to the communities affected to use as they see fit. We see this
as a really positive step in addressing these very real concerns. Other forms
of developer contributions, which have helped to fund new infrastructure and
community facilities in the past, are being scaled back by the Government. So
without a new Plan and a CIL charge we will be less able to secure the
benefits that development can bring.
 A lot of work has already taken place to deal with some aspects of our local
infrastructure that people are worried about. A package of transport mitigation
measures has been developed and evaluated, which includes alterations to
the six junctions along the A27 Chichester bypass and a suite of proposals to
encourage alternative travel choices – ‘Smarter Choices’ – such as promoting
bus use, cycling and walking. We have recently bid for Government funding to

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bring forward an improvement scheme for the A27, which will help to tackle
the congestion that frustrates businesses, residents and visitors alike and will
benefit the local economy. This bid has only been made possible as a result
of work with the lead agencies and the prospective developers to agree
mechanisms for investment in this crucial area.
 We have also been working hard to address issues around the local
wastewater facilities, which have long troubled parts of the district. It is
expected that a bid will be submitted by Southern Water to Ofwat for
investment in improved waste water facilities. Investment will not only deal
with growth, but should result in improved water quality in Chichester harbour
and resolve some of the localised problems that exist. Work has already
started to tackle parts of the system where pipes are leaking and repairs have
taken place. You will see more of this work taking place around the city and
in parts of the Manhood over the months ahead to improve the network.
 The results of this consultation will provide a clearer idea about the level and
distribution of development to be included in the draft Local Plan. With this
greater clarity we will be able to engage in a more meaningful dialogue with
infrastructure providers. This work will be brought together in an Infrastructure
Delivery Plan, which will help to align the investment programmes of
infrastructure providers with the phased implementation of development and
the collection of developer contributions.
 The public consultation is due to commence on 22nd
March and will run for 6
weeks until 3rd
May. A range of publicity materials including the web-site,
social media, posters, post-cards, leaflets and un-manned displays will be
used to raise awareness about the consultation and how to get involved. We
have considered how to use our resources most effectively in order to reach a
broad cross-section of the community and especially to give a voice to those
who may not ordinarily get involved. To achieve this aim, members of staff will
be attending a wide range of organised events spread across the area.
 These include: The Westgate Centre on 22nd
March; Bracklesham Barn on
25th
March; The Assembly Rooms on 27th
March; Bourne Leisure Centre on
28th
March; Wisborough Green Village Hall on 11th
April; Selsey Centre on
14th
April and the Westgate Centre again on 19th
April.
 Following the consultation, we will be analysing the results and publishing a
summary of the findings in the summer. During the course of the summer we
will be working with Parish Councils at the Settlement Hubs to identify sites for
housing, employment and other facilities for inclusion in Neighbourhood Plans
and the draft Local Plan. We will also be working with the County Council and
infrastructure providers to identify the key infrastructure required to support
the Plan proposals.
 In October, we will be consulting on the pre-submission draft of the Plan with
a view to submitting the draft to the Secretary of State in the spring of 2014.

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IN SUMMARY
 It is recommended that we go out to public consultation on the draft Preferred
Approach for six weeks commencing on 22nd
March.
 We are required to plan positively to meet as much of our development
requirements as we can within demonstrable constraints.
 It is recommended that we consult on the basis of fulfilling a housing
requirement of 395 homes per year. This is considered to be the lowest
realistic and justifiable figure that is likely to be found sound at examination. If
we are challenged to accommodate more of the requirement - we can robustly
argue that the proposal is within the realistic range set by the SHMA, is
sufficient to deliver the required infrastructure and makes optimum use of
available sites within our environmental constraints.