Two West Durrington developments for combined 240 new homes approved

The two sites, on land near the Coach and Horses, in Arundel Road, were given outline planning permission last year, and form Phase 2 of the total development.

Phase 1, made up of 700 homes, is already well underway to the south.

At an online meeting of the planning committee on Wednesday evening (May 27), members were impressed with the lessons learned from the first phase of development, where some of the design and use of materials had been ‘less successful’.

Leader Paul High said: “This looks like good planning. There’s been a lot of thought gone into this and it looks to me like it’s been planned really well.”

Persimmon Homes and Taylor Wimpey will build one site each, comprising 194 houses and 46 flats, with 72 of the homes classed as affordable.

Members were told that some of the Community Infrastructure Levy paid by the developers could be used to improve the crossing points on the A27.

The levy is a charge authorities can impose on developers to raise money for projects such as schools or transport improvements, which would be needed to support the people living in the new homes.

Some concerns were raised by the North West Durrington Residents’ Association regarding drainage and construction management on the sites.

Chairman Terry Woodjetts told the meeting that, following heavy rain, a central ditch on the site had come close to overflowing in places.

He warned that, unless improvement work was carried out before building work began, there could be flooding further downstream.

Mr Woodjetts also described problems faced by residents for the past three years due to the state of the roads around Phase 1.

With the roads at times ‘resembling nothing more than mud tracks’, he said a number of residents had found themselves out of pocket after their vehicles were damaged.

Mr Woodjetts appealed for controlled wheel washing to be put in place – and properly observed – at the exit to the site, in Snapdragon Lane.

Head of planning, James Appleton told the meeting said engineers were happy with the drainage design for the site but would look at the ‘pinch points’ mentioned by Mr Woodjetts.

He added that wheel washing facilities would be part of the management plan for the sites.

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