Asda petrol station set for approval amid objections

A trio of parish councils have objected to a supermarket's plans to add a petrol station to its existing store.
ASDA FerringASDA Ferring
ASDA Ferring

Councillors will debate the addition to Asda, in Ferring, next Wednesday (May 9).

Arun District Council’s development control committee have been recommended to approve the proposals by planning officers.

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But East Preston, Ferring and Kingston parish councils have joined Ferring Conservation Group and 18 residents in objection, compared to four residents who have written to the council in support of the plans.

In a letter of objection, conservation group secretary Ed Miller said: “The visual intrusion by day but also by night because of the lighting would be unacceptable – not only in the view from Highdown Hill but also on Littlehampton Road, where the Asda store is at least set well back from the road and partly below road level.

“Highdown is within the national park, where a ‘dark skies’ policy applies. Views to the south are particularly valuable – over the coastal plain by day and, for astronomers, to the horizon at night.

“But Littlehampton Road also just clings on to its semi-rural appearance, with farmland to the immediate west of Asda. The petrol station would be another, perhaps fatal, blow to that appearance.”

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Residents near the proposed six pump, 12-filling position development, which would be sited in the north east corner of the Asda site, feared it would create additional disturbance.

Asda is seeking permission for 24-hour use, seven days a week, but a council report stated the facility would mirror store opening hours, while noisier activities like jet washing would cease at 10pm.

The report argued the plans would be ‘acceptable in terms of visual and residential amenity’.