Traffic fears for Pagham homes

Cllr Dawn Hall said she was concerned about traffic conditions around Summer Lane’s junction with Pagham Road once the new housing was occupied.

She told Arun District Council’s development control committee a lot of work had gone on between the planning officers at the council and the developer to achieve the best solution for the potential problem.

But she said she was disappointed plans for a road between the new estate and another proposed for land to the north had to be dropped.

No owner of the site needed to connect the two areas could be found, meaning the connection could not be built because it was impossible to obtain permission for it.

“I was hoping we would have been able to achieve that road link to alleviate a little bit of stress on the traffic situation in Summer Lane because the people living at the bottom end of the site would have been able to access Pagham Road through the other development,” said Cllr Hall (C, Pagham).

This added to her concerns about the possible problems around Summer Lane.

“I hope I am going to be proved wrong on this but it’s a very congested area,” she said. “We have got the post office and the bus stop, which will probably have to be looked at very carefully and also parking on the other side of the road (Pagham Road).

“I do think we might be needing double yellow lines at the junction but I wholly support the development.”

The committee’s members decisively backed the outline plans by Hanbury Properties for three plots of land which total 5.6 hectares. The two to the north of Summer Lane will be developed with two, three and four-bed housing up to two storeys.

The third site, of more than 2.5ha, will be given to the community to add to the public open space around the village hall.

Council planning consultant Matthew Woodward said Arun’s desperate need for housing overcame the usual principle of rejecting development in the countryside. County highways officers were happy changes proposed to Summer Lane would enable it to cope with extra traffic.

Pagham Parish Council chairman Cllr Ray Radmall said the scheme matched its draft neighbourhood plan.

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