Durrington Inspectors Report

 
Letter in the Herald 17 Jan

Worthing Herald January 3 carried a news item entitled "Objectors lose as inspector backs 700 new homes".

Having read the full Inspector's report, it is very clear that the Inspector, Mr Jolly, is far from happy about the proposals as they stand. In fact, he states that - the council's development brief contains serious flaws and inconsistencies and should be comprehensively reviewed and updated. The Inspector has now requested Worthing Borough Council to address his concerns.

I feel strongly that both the headline and the details contained in the news item are misleading and therefore require clarification if the general public are not going to be left with a false impression of the situation. The following are only a few extracts from the Inspector's report, but nevertheless serve to provide a more accurate picture of the Inspector's findings.

* Paragraph 1.45, page 12 of the annex - The Inspector thought that it would be better for access to the site to be provided by extending the existing roads on the east and south of the site. He states that - "In my view, the transportation and access strategy in the brief should be reviewed to consider all the options for access to the development site from the local road network. Particularly in questioning again the need for access from Titnore Lane to avoid damaging through access between parcels of SNCI - Sites of Nature Conservation Interest - woodland and the desirability of providing direct vehicular access between the site and the existing district centre."

* Paragraph 8.167, page 140 - The development shows links to an employment site on a small area of pastureland to the west of Goring Woods. I have concluded under Policy B4 that development on this site would cause unacceptable harm to the environment and it is an unsustainable location as a stand-alone facility.

* Paragraph 8.177 - failure to recognise the importance of the historic parkland setting to the Grade 1 listed building, ie Castle Goring.

* Paragraph 1.22, page 8 - It is clear to me that any development in this shape or form would have an alien character with no historic precedent and would result in the destruction of the parkland setting of the listed building. This information in the brief sends entirely the wrong message to the developers. It also conflicts badly with one of the design principles in Section 6 of the brief to preserve and enhance the setting of the adjoining listed buildings and conservation area and ... to retain the parkland setting.

If any member of the public wish to verify any of the above for themselves, the Inspector's Report is available for viewing at the planning office in Richmond Road and at Worthing reference library.

D Robet Elleray
Chairman - The Worthing Society