Approval of reserved matters following outline consent A/44/17/OUT for appearance, landscaping, layout & scale for the demolition of existing buildings on site & erection of a mixed use development comprising of 90 No, residential dwellings & a care home & ancillary facilities including railway crossing together with associated access, car parking & landscaping. This application also lies within the parishes of Rustington & Littlehampton.

The Principal Planning Officer presented the report with updates.

Members then took part in a full debate on the application where a number of points were raised and responded to by Officers, including:

·       the style of the proposal, particularly for a rest home and whether the harshness of the design would enhance people’s lives

·       the need for greener energy solutions, solar panels etc, the lack of energy saving conditions in the approval and whether the opportunity was missed tom impose relevant conditions at the Outline approval stage

·       more of a town house design less suitable for a more rural site

·       the ecological plan referred to in the report

·       whether this site was unsustainable for development

·       not enough disabled parking at the care home, or across the entire development, and whether the overall number of parking bays should be reduced to widen some

·       support for the mixture of housing, but concerns for the concentration of social housing and whether it would be better to spread it more evenly throughout the development

·       concerns over drainage facilitation on the site

·       whether the development would be fitted to mains water or whether tankerage would be used

·       the narrowness of the roads, which has the effect of making the development overbearing, and whether the Planning Authority should be allowing this here and in other applications

·       the conditions on materials and whether the materials could be reviewed

·       connectivity of the site, in particular for pedestrians, cyclists and wheelchair users

·       whether the location between a rail line and a dual carriageway was appropriate for the residents that would be living at the care home

·       the height of acoustic fencing

·       the Human Rights Act and Equality Act, and the lack of information on the impacts of the development in the report

The Committee

RESOLVED

That the Planning Committee delegate the decision to the Group Head of Planning (in consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair) once the consultation period with West Sussex County Council Highways and Public Right of Ways sections has expired.