Homes plan at Lavant delivers community benefits
December 17, 2020
Nat Belderson, Planning Link Officer, gives an update on a scheme delivering new homes and bringing infrastructure benefits to the local community.
In October, following the signing of a Section 106 legal agreement, permission was issued for 18 homes on land at Pook Lane, Lavant, West Sussex. This site is a good example of how communities can come together to shape how development takes place in their areas. The land was identified by the community for inclusion in the Lavant Neighbourhood Development Plan – adopted three years ago – subject to a number of requirements that would need to be addressed to make a scheme acceptable. These included:
- removal and replacement of the football pitch on an alternative site
- a suitable buffer to keep the development away from an adjacent scheduled ancient monument
- a large part of the site, including the buffer, was to be made available in perpetuity as public open space
- increased car parking for memorial hall/replacement football pitch
- new footpaths through the site, including a safer crossing for an existing footpath across Pook Lane.
In addition, the scheme was required to provide 50 per cent affordable housing in line with Strategic Policy SD28 of the South Downs Local Plan.
The application was complicated by the area identified for the replacement pitch falling just outside of the National Park, meaning the proposals had to be submitted as a cross-boundary application with determination to be split between Chichester District Council and the SDNPA.
The developer, Sunley Estates, worked positively with Lavant Parish Council and the local community to develop the proposals. This resulted in a scheme using design, details and materials that are appropriate and sympathetic to the area.
Accompanying the development will be a scheme of works to protect, enhance and maintain a section of the Devil’s Ditch, a Scheduled Ancient Monument (currently on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register) running along the boundary of the site, along with on-site interpretation. These works will help increase the enjoyment and understanding of this SAM by the public, in support of the second statutory purpose of the National Park. The developers will also be making financial contributions towards the maintenance and improvement of the nearby Centurion Way cycle path, and to the Solent Recreation Mitigation Strategy.