Rallying cry to defeat new housing plan in Climping

Last night (Tuesday, August 11) almost 100 residents showed their opposition to a speculative scheme to develop on land between Church Lane and Yapton Road.

The proposal, put forward by the Mulgrave Estate, has sparked outrage in the village and has worried Bognor Regis and Littlehampton MP Nick Gibb.

Mr Gibb, who attended the village meeting at St Mary’s Church, said: “I am opposed to this. We should not be, in my opinion, concreting over land that is prime for agricultural development.

“This is an area, that I believe, is outstandingly beautiful and it is key to the tourism industry.

“It is key, to what makes this a place that people find attractive to live in, that we retain the green field dominance of this area.”

The night was organised by the village’s fledgling action team, the Clymping Field Protection Group.

At the meeting the group’s acting chairman, David Miranda, asked villagers whether they were in favour of the plan.

An overwhelming majority said they were against it.

The group’s main concern is that the housing would be built on prime agricultural land. They were also fearful about the impact some 80 to 140 homes could have on the drainage, local water table, and felt development on that field would cause a detrimental loss to Climping’s rural character.

Mr Miranda told the audience: “If this (proposal) goes ahead, Climping is simply going to be a name on a map and a suburb of everywhere else.

“The only thing we want to see on that land is what we see now which is the seasons changing and the crops coming and going.”

Mr Gibb said he would back the group’s battle but advised them to pay attention to every little detail of the plan. He also told people to write to planning officers at Arun District Council.

Farmer James Baird urged people to write to the Mulgrave Estate and voice their opinion.

No formal plans have yet been submitted by Mulgrave.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage at www.littlehamptongazette.co.uk/

2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LittlehamptonGazette

3) Follow us on Twitter @LhamptonGazette

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Littlehampton Gazette - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.