Delay to submission of Adur Plan
We have just learned that the Adur Local Plan has been delayed in its submission to Government by as much as 3 months or more.
Apparently, more work has to be done on the viability of the proposed roundabout on the A27 which will serve the Airport, Ricardos, the Lancing College, the proposed New Monks Farm development allocation of 600 homes and 25,000 square metres of business development.
When the plan was voted through last October by full council for submission to Government residents present and those like Adur Floodwatch Group who made representations were told most strenuously by the council leader Neil Parkin and many other members that this plan must not be delayed.
The authority must protect itself and the residents against unscrupulous developers who, without a plan in place, can side step the authority and go to Government for approval. So, the plan was voted through. That was almost 6 months ago!
The Plan was due for submission in March/April 2015.
So, now, suddenly what has changed? What has happened to the urgency of plan submission which was so important in October last when now it is acceptable to delay it even further on an element which has been in the plan since 2013 and by this stage should surely have been tested for its viability.
“Or, was this headlong rush just scaremongering to get through an agenda which is publically known to be totally unacceptable to the Adur community because of its considerable risks for increased flooding in all areas around the Lancing Gap?”, asks Bill Freeman, spokesperson for the Adur Floodwatch Group.
Residents asked the council to delay approval till WSCC’s comprehensive study of the area’s drainage and proposals for its stabilisation were available. This CH2MHill report is about to be published.
At the full council meeting, the UKIP members, all of whom voted against plan submission, put forward the motion to delay the plan pending the publication of this report. Many of them have wards in the flood risks areas. They understand the concerns of the community and they supported the Adur Floodwatch request to delay, pending the report. Their motion was vigorously rejected.
So, once again, community concerns were just not listened to.
It is known that, even at this stage, the NMF development has no documents submitted to demonstrate how drainage will be mitigated for or improved, as required by the NPPF. Or, for that matter, what the planned construction methods will be to take into account the terrain being developed. For the NMF development, representations for the soundness consultation last December had nothing upon which to comment.
This, despite the fact that the lead drainage authority, WSCC, clearly stated in their 2013 consultation that the sustainability of drainage must be proved before the NMF and airport allocations are set in the plan as required by the NPPF. It must not be done at planning application stage.
The CH2MHill report will be paramount to examining the drainage and used as a base to see whether flood risk mitigation could be possible.
Bill Freeman further comments, “We suspect this report has been ignored because it may show that drainage of further large developments within the Lancing Gap will be totally unsustainable, but in the interests of community wellbeing - at least look at it! For once Adur DC must listen to its community. Study the CH2MHill report – it now has the time – and be sure that these developments can be ‘flood risk’ sustainable. If not – delete them from the Plan and prepare to support the reasons for doing so to Government.