The fine details of the government’s new planning system are yet to be published but the cries are already going up “We won’t be allowed to object to anything” – this is simply not true!
Even where a site has “permission in principle” you can still object to what is proposed to be put on that site and, it looks like, on the same grounds as before. Plans for conversion of buildings to residential use will also still be subject to scrutiny, as will demolition of existing properties to be replaced with housing; the details will be the subject of objections. To paraphrase the mantra “build more, build better and build where it is wanted”.
You can read the proposals so far at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changes-to-the-current-planning
and enter your comments into their survey, which closes on 1st October 2020. It is rather a long document but well worth the effort and a chance to have your say.
This Society was formed to combat unsympathetic building, to preserve the best of the old and, at least by inference, to encourage the best of the new. We have had a hand in saving The Windmill, getting improvements to the plans for such sites as The Globe, the Duke Street cottage frontage and, currently, the revised plans for the Waitrose site are showing a deal of better thought, if not quite “right” yet.
The value of looking into our local planning applications is quite plain, and there have been lots of improvements to plans resulting from objections by members of the public as well as those by councillors and council staff. There is also the opportunity to offer constructive ideas and recommendations, it need not be a negative process.
Our Planning Authority, Arun District Council, publish weekly lists of applications on their website: arun.gov.uk/Weekly-lists (in the case of Littlehampton these have the prefix LU/) and details of an application can be seen by using the full planning reference . If you should want us to enter comments on behalf of yourself please contact us via our website or a committee member.
With The Academy due to reopen soon we are looking forward to developing contact with some of the younger members of our community who are showing interest in how their town is to be developed; their ideas of what they do and do not want for the town closely correspond with those of the older generation and this is backed up by the results of our survey started last year. A hopeful sign for the future we would like to think.