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SITE DISCOUNTED: P7 – FOXBRIDGE GOLF COURSE
SITE DISCOUNTED: P7 – FOXBRIDGE GOLF COURSE

Site Discounted:

The site proposed was discounted through the Methodology and Assessment.

The new landowner of Foxbridge Golf Course reported to the Parish Council that the golf course was failing financially and therefore an alternative use was being proposed. The site was presented in late December 2015 for consideration in the Neighbourhood Plan after the publication and distribution of a Parish-wide survey, and therefore was not included in a printed survey sent to residents registered on the electoral roll. A separate display for this site was provided at Public Consultations held in January-February 2016 and residents were invited to comment. The majority of informal responses from the Jan-Feb 2016 public consultations, indicated that residential development of this site is not preferred. Retention of a venue, which can be used by the community and expansion of commercial recreational facilities with perhaps small-scale, enabling residential development, if necessary, is preferred.

The Steering Group noted in their assessment of the site that its size and location makes it less suitable to meet the identified Parish Housing Need. The site is outside a Settlement Boundary, in the countryside and poorly located for Plaistow and Ifold village amenities. Therefore this site does not meet sustainability criteria.

This site was also part of a Site Options and Assessment (Aug 2016) by AECOM (an expert planning consultancy delivering technical support awarded to the Parish by Locality, a programme partner of the Department of Communities and Local Government – DCLG). The report agreed with the conclusions of the Parish.

‘Given local housing need, it is neither necessary nor appropriate to develop a site on this scale, and its location away from settlement edges in open countryside is another significant factor in discounting thewhole site or any part of it as unsuitable for residential development on grounds both of sustainability and landscape and visual impact.’

‘The approach to sustainable development in the English planning system as set out in the NPPF and reiterated in both Chichester’s adopted Local Plan and in the Little Springfield Farm Appeal decision means that Plaistow is effectively the only settlement in the Parish that could be considered suitable for new housing development. Any other approach would likely be contrary to two of the Basic Conditions of neighbourhood planning.’

For these reasons the site was discounted.

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PHOTOS:All photos are courtesy of Mr. Phil Colmer unless stated otherwise.