Deadlock over site six housing plans

The lack of any action on the two sites comes in spite of seven meetings this year between Arun District Council and the building firms for the site six scheme.

The detailed discussions are aimed at breaking the deadlock caused by the dire national economic situation. Linked to the 1,350 homes is the Bognor Regis northern relief road which is seen by the council as an important part of the town's regeneration.

The road links the western and eastern sections of the A259 via the A29 and is designed to take through traffic away from central Bognor.

A legal agreement means that the road has to be built in accordance with a strict timetable of the number of new homes sold. But hopes of the road's completion are still unfounded ten years after it was proposed because developers such as Berkeley Homes are unable to finance such a large-scale scheme.

Arun's chief executive, Ian Sumnall, told Bognor Regis Civic Society this week he was frustrated by the seemingly endless delays.

"The large housebuilders are in extreme difficulty," he explained. "What I have been trying to do with them and with the government and regional agencies and housing associations is to find a way of getting the first houses built, particularly the affordable ones.

"But this is a time when virtually no-one has any money or confidence to put into the housebuilding industry."

Richard McMann, Arun's Bognor regeneration taskforce co-ordinator, stressed the council had no intention of releasing the developers from their obligation to build the relief road as part of the development.

What do you think? Click here to send a letter or leave a comment below.

Click here to go back to Chichester news

Click here to go back to Bognor Regis news

Click here to go back to Midhurst and Petworth news

To tell us where in the world you are reading this story click on the link below to add yourself to our readers' map.

MAP