Adur Local Plan timetable

The revised timetable for the production of the Adur Local Plan is as follows:

• Publication of pre-submission Local Plan - July to August 2014
• Submission - November 2014
• Public Hearing - February 2015
• Adoption - May 2015

Please note that further work may be carried out which could impact on this timetable.

Adur Planning received over 1,100 letters/emails of concern about the plan including the 8 page letter of objection from CPRE Sussex.

General Update

WSCC, the lead drainage authority, have considerable concerns on the potential problems of the developments being proposed. In the consultation they have formally alerted Adur DC to these concerns. WSCC have commissioned a comprehensive study of the drainage systems for the complete area. They have appointed Halcrow, the hydrology consultant to do this. In terms of drainage much knowledge and understanding of the area has been lost over the last decades. This study could take months to complete.

The locations for proposed development are predominately located in areas of the Environment Agency’s 3a & 3b rating for high flood risk from river and coastal flooding. Whilst they have no modelling for ground and surface water drainage, the EA have declared these areas to have a 75% high risk of flooding from ground and surface waters.

The council, like many other councils, is being pushed by government under the somewhat ambiguous NPPF to create a building and regeneration plan for Adur which is realistically far too ambitious for the geographical characteristics of the region. If approved, the development outcomes will severely impact on the drainage of the area, the road infrastructure, wildlife and wellbeing of the community. (How often have we seen these type of comments in the media lately).It will also mean severe erosion of the natural gaps between the communities of Worthing and Sompting, and Lancing and Shoreham with loss of open countryside,

North Lancing which suffered in Winter 2012/13 (whose ditch network was cleared by WSCC/Adur during 2013), generally escaped flooding issues during the Winter months of 2013/14 apart from heavy water logging of gardens, That is apart from a severe lane closure with flooding on the Lancing stretch of the eastbound A27 and the two week closure of the main access road into Lancing with sewer inundation because of the prolonged period of heavy rainfall during the Winter months. The West Beach area in the south of Lancing experienced the worst Winter drainage problems ever, further exacerbated, it is believed by the new development of a training complex of 55 acres for the Brighton & Hove Albion to the north of the area coupled with some of the highest tides on record. Fortunately, although a close run thing, no properties were actually flooded, but West Beach roads were badly affected for many months of the Winter with the severe impact this had on residents, particularly senior citizens who are reliant on community services for their day to day wellbeing.

Following the November flooding of the Shoreham Airport and Shoreham High Street by the Adur River and high tides, Shoreham experienced further flooding during the subsequent exceptionally high tides with inundation of properties and basements.

Once again, this has shown the total fragility of the drainage in the area, which with climate change can only become worse and, if the flood plain development works are approved, will mean even more serious problems for the community, let alone the loss of valued green spaces. This is a major issue of concern for the community in Adur.

What Next?

At present the developers have been charged by Adur to prove the viability of their scheme for infrastructure and drainage. The prime area where 600 homes/10,000 sq m of business development are being considered on New Monks Farm has borehole readings being taken to learn the nature of ground water flows across that area into the flood plain and the relationship of ground water levels to the ground level itself.

I learned that they have already discovered that at high tides when the Shoreham sluices are closed, the water table will rise as much as 60cm in the proposed development area. The whole area of the 3a/3b flood plain is tidal. Residents concerns are that if you put 600 homes worth of concrete and roads into this already tidal and fragile flood plain, it will be like putting ‘ a brick into a bucket full of water’. The outcomes from disrupted surface and ground water could become disastrous in times of prolonged, heavy rainfall. With climate change this threat is now only ever going to get worse.

The community also does not trust the developer or indeed the authorities to be able to devise any suitable mitigation scheme. There are many examples in recent times where building has taken place in similar situations and where the outcome has been severe flooding and ruination of peoples’ homes and lives because the authorities (including in some cases the Environment Agency) have approved the project and the mitigation schemes have failed totally – leaving the developer to complain that the authorities ‘said it was safe to build’. The outcome for residents - no recourse from either the developer or the authorities.

The expected outcome

Sometime in July and August the finished up plan will be published. Hopefully, we will have the opportunity to raise further objections at that stage. Local elections saw a reduction of the seats held by the incumbent political party, but they still hold the greater majority, so the new party members who are all totally supportive of the community’s concerns will still have a difficult task to influence the further changes in development of the plan.

I suspect that the plan will go forward with these unwelcome elements and the whole issue will ‘go down to the wire’ and rely upon community/stakeholder representations at the Government Inspector’s hearing in February 2015 (and hopefully the inspector’s common sense). The community organisations/stakeholders are already preparing their representation for this hearing. As things develop over the coming months, an update will be made on the progress of the Adur Plan.

Bill Freeman
CPRE Adur District 31st May 2014