February 14th saw Jaine and Simon Wild speaking at a planning meeting in Littlehampton, to decide the building of 460 houses on a Golf Club at Felpham.
Arun District Council Meeting
In passionate speeches along with a number of other people, the councillors listened and decided to not allow this desecration.
There are a number of beautiful mature trees on the site and of course lots of wildlife including deer as well, who will be safe for now..
Thank you Chairman for allowing me to speak, I am speaking as Felpham’s County Councillor and as someone who also has been campaigning to stop this ridiculous development on Felpham Golf Club land.
After numerous letters to the West Sussex County council leader and to the WSCC cabinet member for Environment and Climate Change, WSCC who is the lead local flood authority decided to oppose this development. My main concern along with the destruction of an open green area that contained various wildlife was that houses built in this area will contain hundreds of children with no school to attend to. Downview School is already at full capacity of 630 pupils.
The traffic problem at Downview School is already short of madness, and I have been continually working with highway officers from WSCC to try and sort out the problems. In fact, I was there last week watching a number of offences taking place with officers and Mrs Purkis the Headteacher.
Allowing the development at the Golf Club would further bring the problem to Downview Road where traffic comes to a standstill already from the traffic lights to the Golf Club at school times.
Residents in this area are holed up unable to leave their bungalows and houses due to cars parking on kerbs and pavements outside their homes, they become prisoners at certain times of the day and have to rearrange their lives around morning and evening school times.
Our small Felpham village could not cope with this development; there is no infrastructure to support it, no new doctor’s surgery, no new NHS dentist surgery, and no new school.
The local residents could not cope with it—the loss of our beautiful environment could not cope with it, and I appeal to this committee not to allow this development to go ahead which will damage so many lives and put our children at risk on the roads.
Thank you