Uproar in parish on fears of more homes

Alerted to the meeting at the Jubilee Community Centre by resident Mike Jupp, through leaflets and a local radio station, the bad-tempered affair, at one point turned into a shouting match between chairman of the parish council's planning, amenities and environment committee Cllr John Potter and Mr Jupp who accused the parish council of '˜antagonism' over his line of questioning.

'All I am trying to do is to make people aware that there is a threat to their way of life,' exploded Mr Jupp.

'It is blatantly obvious what the plan is,' said Mr Jupp also questioning the reason why a 24-hour replacement Esso garage had been allowed to be built on the Chichester Road.

'We fought that with Arun District Council and lost,' replied Mr Potter.

Another resident left the meeting saying: 'It was a complete waste of time. Where is the infrastructure for it all,' he shouted.

Bersted Parish Council chairman Brian Knight endeavoured to calm the tone by explaining that no more action could be taken until the South East Regional Assembly had released its revised figures on the number of new homes needed for the south east, expected in January 2008.

Currently it has proposed that 2,000 more homes should be built west of the River Arun on top of the existing 1,500 already planned.

But fears that hundreds of acres of land owned by Church Commissioners in Chalcraft Lane could be the next target for developers has brought new concerns.

And Lynette Gill from Chalcraft Lane cited evidence of land surveys and global positioning satellite mapping taking place on about 150 acres of farmland adjoining her property.

'I have been here for 40 years and never seen land and soil surveys taking place before,' she claimed.

Defending the parish council of accusations that it was not doing enough to prevent development in the area, and especially on the controversial Site Six, Mr Knight said: 'We did everything. We spent more than 100,000 on Site Six and in the end the government decided it should go ahead.'

Arun District Council also came in for strong criticism from North Bersted parish councillor Harry Elsey who claimed that the district council had declined to inform the parish council of the new requirements by Seera.

'Can we make sure that Arun sends information to us first, before we read it in the local newspaper?' he asked.

He said: 'I like fields and nice buildings and I'll go to the end of the earth to oppose any more development.

Developers Berkley Homes which is believed to have an interest in the land declined to comment.