The 10 members Worthing Borough Council's development and control committee went against officers' recommendations and voted unanimously against plans for 875 homes, a school and leisure facilities on land in West Durrington.

Click on the panel above to see a video interview with Camp Titnore protester John, after the meeting.

Almost 200 opponents of the plans, some of whom had heckled the committee and officers throughout the meeting, then cheered and hugged each other in the aisles as the final verdict was announced.

Plans condemned

Once the meeting began, speakers queued up to condemn the proposals.

Robin Rogers, Lib Dem councillor for Castle ward, said Worthing was "woefully short" of green space.

Other speakers questioned the traffic impact on the local area and the threat to protected species, and said building on the boundary of the new South Downs National Park would be "cynical.

James Appleton, the council's executive head of planning, pointed out that the area had been allocated for development in 2001 and said environmental impacts would be assessed and mitigated against in the proposals.

Paul High said the development was unnecessary with the town's success in hitting housing targets and said the new drainage scheme was unproven and dangerous.

Protesters delight

Dawn Smith, a long-term campaigner who stood for election three times on a single-issue platform to fight the scheme, said: "It's fantastic.

"I can't believe it. I'm really proud of the councillors of Worthing that they have spoken up for the environment. I was worried all the way through it. Until the final vote came I was still nervous."

Speaking after the meeting, John Livermore said: "We expected a lot of people there. We knew the majority would be against it because of the representations we've had, literally thousands.

"But it's been on the cards for 29 years. There's nothing new about this application.

"We've now got to a stage where the objectors have won the battle but they haven't won the war."

He said there could be an appeal, a judicial review, a public inquiry, an amended application, or a number of those things.

A full two-page special report appears in the Thursday, March 18 edition of the Worthing Herald.

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