1,500 NEW HOMES IN THE PIPELINE

The development would be linked to construction of the long-awaited Lyminster bypass and the Fitzalan Road extension in Littlehampton, with a road bridge over the railway ending long queues for motorists at level crossings.

The Gazette revealed 13 months ago that a consortium of landowners was working on proposals for around 1,100 homes in the same area.

Now Arun planners are putting forward a larger scheme as a "preferred option" in a draft document setting out where new housing, business and other developments could take place in the district over the next 20 years.

The north Littlehampton area is one of two strategic locations for major development highlighted in the draft core strategy '” with a further 1,500 homes north-west of Bognor Regis.

Angmering and Arundel are suggested as places where smaller housing developments could be built, although with the emphasis on meeting the needs of those already on Arun's housing waiting list.

The Littlehampton proposal is seen as a wide-ranging bid to help regenerate the whole town, linked to other smaller-scale initiatives, many of them set out in the Littlehampton Vision document.

Introducing the proposals in the draft strategy, officers state: "The preferred option is to provide for major new development in Littlehampton that will promote and support economic and social regeneration, address local needs, and enhance the town's role as a service centre, a visitor destination and a place of employment."

Development of the land north of the railway would take place after 2011. Construction has started on 400 homes south of the line which already have planning permission.

Across Arun as a whole, the council has to provide for around 9,500 homes up to 2026. Roughly one-third of these already have planning permission, another 3,000 will be allocated on "brownfield" sites.

In their preferred option for smaller developments, the Arun officers suggest around 100 should be built in the Angmering/Findon area and around 300 in Barnham/Westergate/Eastergate, plus Arundel.

Five Arun planning officers, helped by specialist consultants, have been working for three years on a range of documents supporting the draft strategy, covering areas such as housing need, affordable housing, employment needs, shopping centres, transport and landscape. Work is continuing on a vital strategic flood risk assessment with the Environment Agency.

The detailed evidence will be used to support Arun's core strategy at a public inquiry at the end of next year, when the document will come under scrutiny from a government inspector and will also be challenged by landowners and developers putting forward alternative schemes.

One option which has been rejected is for a new town at Ford, because of its potential impact on both Littlehampton and Bognor Regis.

The draft will go before Arun's local development framework sub-committee on Tuesday and on September 13, a full council meeting will have the opportunity to make any comments or changes before the document goes out for public consultation for six weeks from October 4.