Andrew Smith

The Taxpayers Alliance has made Heather Caird, Leader of Chichester DC, its April pin up of the month.

This is because Chichester DC is the only Council in the country that has a pension fund that is fully funded. Across local government as a whole assets cover only 70% of liabilities, according to TPA research.

I doubt whether Heather Caird was even on the Council when it decided to transfer huge sums from its reserves to the pension fund to reduce ongoing pension contributions.

Had the Taxpayers Alliance been around at the time I’ve no doubt it would have had something negative to say about such a move.

It was nearly a year ago I met a group of mothers at the roundabout at the Walnut Tree in Runcton to see for myself the difficulties of negotiating the roads whilst taking young children to school.

Last September a revised lane markings were promised “within 6-8″ weeks to improve the safety of pedestrians. A presentation to the County South Local Committee was made on 1st November by one of the mothers. The white lining was promised within two weeks.

When nothing on the ground occurred I chased for answers. None came until last month when I was told the revised lanes had been vetoed on safety grounds.

This morning I had a useful meeting with WSCC officers although neither were highway safety experts. But they could see the dangers and it was agreed to enquire whether a footpath around the south west corner linking Mill Lane and Lagness Road was feasible if the Lagness Road was shifted a metre northwards.

The experts advice is awaited. I trust a “can-do” approach will find a solution, especially as there is money from developments in the parish available to fund the work.

It will have taken eighteen months but on Monday I am told the County Council will finally fix the 30mph speed limit sign on the B2166.

A planning application has been submitted to convert The Old Coach House at Maudlin into four houses.

At first glance this appears to be a welcome scheme that represents a vast improvement on what is currently there.

By nine votes to three the District Council’s Development Control Committee (North) approved the outline planning application for twenty four dwellings at Hunters Rest, a site immediately to the south of Summersdale Cottage.

Of the three members who voted against the application, two had not attended the site visit that was held yesterday for the committee. Members viewed both the Hunters Rest site and the field on the other side of the road where Taylor Wimpey have ambitions to build 100 houses.

When the Committee, rightly, refused a previous application for Hunters Rest a couple of years ago the Council could demonstrate that it could meet the Government requirement to have at least five years’ supply of housing land. That is no longer the case.

Furthermore, the National Planning Policy Framework presumes development unless there are compelling reasons to refuse.

It was noticeable that those members of the Committee who were not familiar with the exact details of the location of the Settlement Policy and Strategic Gap boundaries assumed that the boundary was to the north of Summersdale Garage.

Like those members I don’t believe the proposed development will either damage the gap between Chichester and Lavant or set a precedent for the Taylor Wimpey proposals to be approved.

I would not have voted for the Hunters Rest proposals had I felt that this would bind me to approving Taylor Wimpey’s plans.

Useful visit by all but three members of the Development Control Committee (North) members to Hunters Rest and the field opposite that is subject to a pre-application enquiry by Taylor Wimpey.

The visit highlighted the difference between the two sites – one enclosed, the other currently open ground.

I said I would offer an update on the National Planning Policy Framework when its implications had been assessed.

I had highlighted that “windfall sites” would be allowed to be counted towards the Councl’s five year supply of housing land in certain circumstances.

The consequences of this in Chichester District is that the shortfall in the Council’s five year supply of housing land has fallen from 679 dwellings to 460. These figures use the Regional Plan target of 480 dwellings per year.

In the short term this may not have an immediate impact. But once the Regional Plan has been replaced with the District’s own plan (likely to be a lower annual target) the consequences will be more significant.

Taylor Wimpey will be making a presentation to the City Council’s Planning and Conservation Committee at 5.30pm next Wednesday at the Assembly Rooms on its plans for 100 homes in the Lavant and Chichester strategic gap.

The City Council will not be making any judgment on the proposed development; to date no planning application has been submitted. All members of the public are welcome to attend and there will be an opportunity for them to ask questions.>/span>

Follwing a £50,000 study to assess flooding issues on the A27 the Highways Agency has now authorised £1.2m to be spent in October and November this year to provide a solution to this serious hazard.

The planning application for twenty four dwellings at Hunters Rest in Lavant is to be determined on 9th May. The officers are recommending that the application be permitted.

The site falls within the strategic gap identified in the Local Plan and is therefore strongly opposed by local residents in both Lavant and Chichester. In the past there has been a presumption against development on this site. However, the Local Plan, approved in 1999, is not the sole determinant. The National Planning Policy Framework, published at the end of March, and the Council’s policy Facilitating Appropriate Development have led to the officers to a different conclusion.

We shall discover next Wednesday whether councillors share this view.