LETTER: Not too late to halt flats bid

RE: Kingston Wharf development proposal.

Adur Planning Committee must reject the latest A259 development proposal. A nine-storey group of flats is unacceptable for it will set a precedent for high rise developments which are unwarranted. And if another supermarket is allowed Adur council will have turned Shoreham into ‘Supermarket Town’ and advanced the day when the A259 grinds to a halt. The planning committee made a shockingly bad decision to allow flats in excess of five stories on the former Parcelforce site opposite Surry Street. It is a long, dull slab towering over the old buildings and cottages facing it. Fenestration and white finish do not redeem it. The developer at Kingston Wharf will point to this with glee … but it is not too late to call a halt to this. Previous planning committees have approved tasteful, interesting and lower rise developments on the south side of the river, where Greens timber yard was, and at Ropetackle by the town centre. The character of Shoreham should be sustained, not threatened. That character is in the hands of the planning committee who should insist on something more modest and suitable.

John Robinson

Former planning committee chairman,

Upper Shoreham Road,

Shoreham-by- sea

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