I AM writing to help allay public fears and to set the record straight over the public consultation and meeting held last week in the town about the possible development in north Littlehampton and Toddington.
The impression has been given by the landowner (Greencore) and architects (John Thompson & Partners) that the town council, together with Arun and the county council, have given their blessing to the scheme already, and it is just to sort out the det
ails that the meetings were taking place.
The proposals were shown to councillors only three or four weeks ago, as an initial consultation on the landowner's vision. Whilst certain aspects, such as the Fitzalan Road extension which has been a line on the map for some 30-40 years, may have some official sanction, none of the rest has been to planning, nor indeed have any specific proposals been made by the developers.
The imminent need to rebuild Littlehampton Community School as an Academy has brought forward the Fitzalan Road extension from the police station to Worthing Road as a new route to the school, and will be considered first, probably in the autumn.
The rest of the proposals, for a Lyminster bypass, with a very welcome bridge over the railway to link to the A27, and hopefully a completed Arundel bypass, together with the badly-needed affordable homes, employment sites, community hall, sports facilities and medical centre are all speculative at the moment.
There has to be a very clear statement of how the infrastructure is to be created first, before any more new houses, with the increased pressure on already over-stretched roads, water supply, medical services, and who is to pay for it all.
We have had enough of small piecemeal developments, contributing nothing but extra strain and pressure without building the essential infrastructure first.
As I have already said, if handled sensibly and step-by-step, these proposals could form part of the answer to providing all these overdue facilities, but I must stress that no deal has been cut with any of the councils, and residents must play their full part in saying what they need and want (and what they don't want).
This time the existing community needs must come first, and before developer greed and excess profit.
Dr James Walsh, Littlehampton Town, Arun District and county councillor (Liberal Democrat),
The Street, RustingtonNOTE: All letters must include a name and address which can be witheld by request.
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