"Waste Of Space" - Bersted Resident Furious As Planners Defer Development

A Bersted resident has called councillors a ‘waste of space’ following the deferral of 20 homes in the town.

At Arun District Council’s planning committee meeting on Wednesday, July 10, plans for 20 homes on the former Bartons Infant School were deferred by members mainly due to a lack of affordable housing on site, car parking and size of the gardens.

Nelson Hodge, a resident whose home neighbours the site, stood up and yelled at councillors that they were a ‘disgrace’ for not approving the application, before being escorted out of the council chambers.

He said: “So we’ve got to put up with anti-social behaviour? We’ve had to put up with this for years, it is not secure. You’re an absolute waste of space the lot of you.”

He later apologised to council officers and councillors for his outburst, with the vice-chair of the committee Sue Wallsgrove (Green, Barnham) saying they forgave him as the planning process could be emotional sometimes.

Photo: Plans for 20 Homes On Bartons Infant School Site, Bognor Regis, sourced from arun district council\'s planning portal

The plans were submitted by Kinsted Developments in 2022, proposing 20 homes on the site of the former Bartons Infant School on Romney Broadwalk, Bogner Regis, which was vacated by the school in 2014 and is set to be demolished as part of the plans.

Councillors took issue with some gardens being smaller than regulation, no affordable housing being provided within the scheme, and the plans being two parking spaces short of recommendations.

Kinsted said it was unable to provide the required 30 per cent affordable housing on site due to high costs, and a section 106 agreement between Kinstead and the council would see a financial contribution of £55,000 paid towards new affordable housing elsewhere in Arun.

Freddy Tandy (Lab, Courtwick with Toddington) said the application looked ‘excellent’ for ‘97 pent’ of the scheme, but that he was ‘disgusted’ with the lack of affordable housing and developers trying to ‘weedle’ out of it.

He said: “I was ready to vote for this, what are we going to do with 50 grand to house thousands of people on a waiting list – maybe people getting houses are better than profits.”

Photo: Former Bartons Infant School site, sourced from google maps

Additionally, due to a provision in planning legislation, developers are allowed to reduce the amount of onsite affordable housing required when they are demolishing existing buildings on brownfield sites.

Paul Bicknell (Con, Angmering and Findon) said a lot of developments in Arun require demolition on site, adding it was a ‘loophole’ that needed to be watched.

June Hamilton (Ind, Pagham) said the council sees ‘broken promises all the time’ from developers, saying sometimes they ‘promise the Earth’ and that the council should ask Kinsted to reconsider onsite affordable housing.

Councillors were warned by officers they can’t refuse the application ‘simply because you don’t like it’, ultimately deferring it for Kinsted to come back with a more agreeable proposal.

Kinsted is a 30 year joint venture partnership between West Sussex County Council and builder Lovell Homes formed in 2021.

Representatives from Kinsted told the LDRS after the decision that they had already incurred £70,000 worth of delays working on the application so far, and a deferral would only worsen this.

On affordable housing, they said even though WSCC is involved in the development through Kinsted, it still needs to show profitability on its schemes.

Mr Hodge later told the LDRS he has lived next to the site for 14 years, saying the site had become overgrown due to a lack of maintenance and is ‘not secure’ or fenced off.

He said as a result just behind his backyard, people had been dealing drugs, tiles had been thrown off the roof of the former school building, metal and wood from the site thrown over his and other neighbours’ fences, fires had been set and a couple of people had been arrested.

“All of that work, all of that hard work and all of that money spent by [Kinsted]. I’m not in with that company, all I want is the place sorted out from behind us”, he said.

“One time they simply threw something over the fence from over the back here, and she had the baby in the garden. My next door neighbour had her granddaughter in the garden.”

He added of other residents in the area ‘totally all of us agreed’ with the planning application, saying Bersted Parish Council had been to visit the site and also agreed with the plans.

Two objections from residents were received by the council to the plans, concerned with the impact the development would have on nearby roads and the removal of the hedge at the current entrance to the site.

No objections were raised by West Sussex Highways or Arun’s environment officers, nor by any other official body.