LRM are pleased to have secured planning permission at Appeal on behalf of Hallam Land Management.
Outline planning permission was sought for 106 new homes on land at Pagham in Arun District. The site adjoins both the existing Greater Bognor Regis Urban Area – a focus for new development in the adopted Arun Local Plan, and one of its strategic allocations.
For successive years the Council has not been able to demonstrate the required five year supply of housing land and its housing delivery test has consistently been below 75%. To address this, the Council adopted an Interim Housing Statement in 2021 with the specific intention of improving housing supply.
Despite these circumstances, the application was refused. The Council considered that the scheme would be harmful in terms of its countryside location and impact on the identity of Pagham and coalescence with Chichester. In addition they considered there to be an unacceptable loss of agricultural land, whilst further concerns regarding potential flood risk had not been resolved satisfactorily. The absence of a section 106 agreement was also cited in relation to mitigation for Pagham Harbour Special Protection Area (SPA) and other infrastructure.
The Appeal was heard at a Hearing in November 2022, by which time the issues regarding flood risk, the SPA and the Section 106 were resolved via the Statement of Common Ground (SoCG).
The live issues were therefore whether the benefits of the proposed development, which were agreed in the SoCG to be substantial, were outweighed by the loss of an undeveloped field.
The Inspector concluded that the adverse impacts of the development attracted no more than moderate weight, whereas significant weight should be afforded to the housing benefits of the scheme. Despite being outside the settlement boundary and in a Gap location, development would not affect the integrity of the countryside in this location.
The decision can be viewed here. Owen Jones appeared at the Hearing along with Thomas Hill KC and Dean Swann of Brookbanks.