Chichester District Council (CDC) explain on their website that : “changes to the way the Government requires us to calculate future housing needs means that we now plan to build at least 650 new homes each year in the Local Plan Area, up to 2035”.

But Planning Policy requires CDC to accommodate only 609 new homes each year; however, in addition, they are under a duty to add an allowance “for accommodating unmet need arising from the Chichester District part of the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA).”
The SDNPA have a shortfall of 41 dwellings in what they say they can accommodate resulting in an additional 41 dwellings being added to the CDC figure making 650 new dwellings each year.
We question this decision because CDC has so little space on which to build all these houses.
To the north lies the SDNP, to the south lies the Chichester Harbour AONB and then the Manhood Peninsula which is part of the southern coastal plain. The southern coastal plain has some of the highest grade agricultural land in the country comprising highly productive brick earth strata and a climate suited to early ripening crops.
I agree that nobody seems to be questioning the Cdc housing allocation even though most of the land area is Sdnp or the harbour. As chair of the Boxgrove neighbourhood plan I have requested that our Mp take an interest. How can the Sdnp not need homes for workers. Chichester is being destroyed by development. The planning dept is under staffed and now has very little conservation expertise.
The allocation of housing between the SDNP and the coastal plain is not sustainable in terms of climate change or community cohesion. Communities in the SDNP are complaining of closing schools and shops, because of a lack of affordable homes in the Park, while flood prone coastal areas are having to absorb housing beyond their capacity to cope in terms of infrastructure or drainage.