YAPTON PARISH COUNCIL

PLANNING COMMITTEE

18 December 2006 – At a meeting of the Planning Committee held in Yapton & Ford Village Hall.

Present: Mr Faulkner (Chairman), Mr Andrews and Mrs Barnes.

Also Present: District & Parish Councillor Mr Taft, Parish Councillor Mr Caiger, Mr Tansley (Clerk of the Council) and 42 members of the public.

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor Mrs Freeman and Parish Councillors Mr Bryan, Mr Fellows and Mr Jones.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Mr Taft in his capacity as a member of Arun District Council declared a personal and prejudicial interest in planning application no. Y/78/06/ (Crematorium with associated car parking, memorial garden and landscaping west of Bilsham Road, Yapton) and took no part in the discussion of this application.

Mrs Barnes and Mr Faulkner each declared a prejudicial interest in planning application no. Y/75/06/T (Removal of 25% of top weight of 1 no Monterey Pine tree at Church House, Church Lane, Yapton) as they lived adjacent to the property. As the meeting would not be quorate if these two members withdrew, it was agreed to defer consideration of this application to a later date.

PLANNING APPLICATIONS

The Planning Committee had before them and considered the following planning applications and resolved as indicated:-

Y/72/06/

Front porch

2 Elm Cottages Church Road Yapton OBJECTION

The reasons for the objection were that it was in a Conservation area and the proposed development would be out of character and not in keeping with neighbouring properties.

Y/74/06/	Demolition of sub-standard existing dwelling and erection of new detached double storey dwelling.	Floribunda Bilsham Road Yapton NO OBJECTION
Y/75/06/T	Removal of 25% of top weight of 1 no. Monterey Pine tree.	Church House Church Lane Yapton DECISION DEFERRED
Y/78/06/	Crematorium with associated car parking, memorial garden and landscaping. (Departure from the Development Plan).	Land north of Ryebank Rife Opposite Bilsham Corner West of B2132 Bilsham Road Bilsham OBJECTION

The reasons for the objection to planning application Y/78/06/ are set out below:

i) The site is outside the development area. It does not accord with the Local Plan (Policy GEN2)

The evidence provided of ’need’ for a crematorium at this location is weak. Very little corroborated independent evidence has been provided. For example, the statistics given by Mercia for the existing crematoria at Chichester and Worthing are based on figures for 2004; 2 years out of date.

The site proposed is on agricultural and undeveloped land which is part of the open countryside and which should be protected (Policy GEN3) (Local Area Policy 12).

Siting on greenfield land would create a precedent and further development would be difficult to resist (Policy GEN2).

ii) There are significant highway issues close to the site (Policy GEN4)

a) The Comet Corner junction with the A259 road has long been considered a hazardous junction where urgent highway improvements are needed to improve safety and reduce the risk of serious accidents. The need for such improvements has already been recognised and strongly supported by the Cabinet of the District Council itself.

The problems at Comet Corner are caused by the staggering of the two junctions on either side of the A259 road and the volume of the traffic using the main Bognor Regis to Littlehampton Road. As a result it is a particularly dangerous manoeuvre for any vehicles seeking to cross over from either the Yapton or Middleton direction or simply to join the A259 to travel east or westwards. One takes “one’s life into one’s hands’ because there are rarely sustained breaks in traffic on the A259 road and this is often coupled with a build-up of vehicles queuing for some distance along the B2132 Yapton Road which inevitably leads to driver frustration and impatience.

Turning right from the A259 road into Yapton Road across the steady flow of traffic is also similarly extremely hazardous. A funeral cortege coming from the Littlehampton direction would regularly face this problem.

The impact of additional vehicles created by the recent decision of the Secretary of State to approve the new housing development for Policy Site at Bersted and Felpham will further significantly increase the pressure on the A259 road. The forthcoming opening of the Materials Recycling Centre at Ford will also impact on the number of heavy goods vehicles using the A259 road.

Funeral corteges and others attending services at the crematorium as well as visitors to the memorial garden would still further increase traffic on the A259 and B2132 roads, exacerbating the already recognised problems at Comet Corner, adding to the existing congestion through the village centre and increasing the risk of serious accidents on both roads.

b) In Yapton itself there are existing pressures on the main road through the centre of the village. The County Council has already identified the need for further traffic calming measures to be undertaken as a result of a series of traffic accidents immediately to the west of the village shops.

c) Mercia’s own Planning Statement states that as well as being close to a bus stop, “The site is also within walking distance of the village of Bilsham via a public footpath, therefore the site is considered to be accessible by a range of transport modes”. Bilsham however is regarded as a small hamlet with very few houses having close access to the public footpath. The outskirts of the main village of Yapton itself are some 500 metres away and there is no public footpath link between this area and the proposed site. Street lighting along this rural section of road is also intermittent and in parts non existent. There was a fatal accident at Bilsham Corner where there is no footpath some 2 years ago.

d) The Barnham – Felpham Safe Cycle route which includes the B2132 Yapton Road is protected from any development which precludes its use as a safe cycle route (Policy GEN15).

e) A plan to intensify the use of the agricultural land surrounding the site by planting salad crops will increase numbers of distribution vehicles needing to access an adjacent site off the B2132 road.

f) A County Council Officer has cited the overall increase in traffic from the proposed development as “inconsequential” but is an extra 30,000 (minimum) vehicle movements a year insignificant? The plan is for an average of 24 cremations a week but there is no upper limit and this could easily double to 40+ a week. (Worthing Crematorium averages 60 cremations a week and Chichester 46 a week). Extra traffic movements of 60,000 a year could then be expected. Highway safety should be paramount. No further development should be permitted pending improvements being carried out at Comet Corner (Policy GEN8).

g) The proposed contribution of £45,000 towards highway improvements at Comet Corner is irrelevant since the overall cost of the project was estimated last year at in excess of £1.2 million and the resources to cover the balance of funding needed have still to be identified (Policy GEN8).

h) There is inadequate provision for parking at the crematorium; overspill parking on the narrow and winding rural Bilsham Road would be extremely hazardous and unacceptable (Policy GEN12).

iii) There is concern that the crematorium will cause pollution of the environment (Policy GEN34)

The operation of the cremator could cause toxic emissions including harmful mercury deposits into the atmosphere and on to the surrounding agricultural land where crops are grown. Added to this vehicles visiting the site will cause traffic fumes increasing the harmful effects on the ozone level.

iv)The site is in a low lying area and is prone to flooding (Policy GEN11)

The site has been identified as in an area prone to flooding by the Environment Agency. It is sited next to the Ryebank Rife.

v) The development would have an adverse impact on nature conservation in the locality (Policy GEN29)

A biodiversity study of the area has identified the nearby Ryebank Rife as a rich habitat for a good selection of aquatic and vascular plant species. Many species of birds and insect live in the area and these could be disturbed by any development. Some specialist mammals (including near extinct water voles) and amphibians depend on these.

vi) The proposed development would have an unacceptable impact on the character of the rural landscape (Policy GEN27)

There is at present no development on the western side of the B2132 Road, north of Comet Corner. Any development would be out of keeping with the completely rural aspect of the area.

vii) An overriding need for a crematorium at this location has not been demonstrated

Demographic forecasts for West Sussex indicate that population increase will be greatest in the Mid Sussex area. The evidence of need provided in the planning application by Mercia Crematoria Ltd is weak and unsubstantiated. It is a fact that nowadays people are living longer, hence the Government’s proposal to increase the retirement age in order to fund the additional years over which people are expected to be drawing a pension.

A recent Parish Meeting attended by some 86 residents, which was a representative group of the whole community of Yapton, was unanimously and strongly opposed to the application. There was no evidence whatsoever of demand or support for a crematorium in Yapton.

CHAIRMAN