It’s well over 40 years since Chichester was pedestrianised and the case for upgrading and renewing paving is overwhelming, especially as the York stone wasn’t intended for vehicles
Readers may think Council inertia is surprising. The condition of this city’s paving has been reviewed over the years but nothing occurs ‘on the ground’ except the appearance of occasional repair teams. Residents want action. We appreciate our elected representatives hesitating to commit £15.5 to £18 million for a high-quality solution – sums stated by consultants WSP on page 120 of their report published March 2021. But we reproduce here photographs of improved paving in three other town centres. If these communities can do it, why not Chichester?
Chichester city centre pavements
Two reports on the condition of Chichester’s paving are relevant:
Building Design Partnership recommended in 2009 ‘The existing paving has been in place since the 1970s and … is now showing signs of wear and tear’.
WSP published their report in 2021. They begin by commenting on ‘an increasing number of complaints about the condition of the city centre pavements and an increase in trips and slips’. They conclude that ‘the quality of repairs needs to improve’ and ‘there are significant issues with unmanaged vehicle movements over areas of pavement likely to have only been designed and constructed to take pedestrian loadings …’ As mentioned above WSP think the budget for a comprehensive scheme for the Market Cross, North and East Streets could be £15.5 to £18 million. We must assume renovating South Street and West Street would be an additional cost.
The Chichester Society is not qualified to comment on technical aspects, but on the basis of our links with the community, we know Chichester’s residents expect our councils to agree a solution soon. This awareness prompted the Society to write to the County Council as highway authority.
John Templeton explains the background and how this proposal could become a reality.
The first phase of the Whitehouse Farm housing development (or Minerva Heights as it’s now called) comprises 750 homes and is well under way. An outline planning application for a second phase with a further 850 homes was submitted in July 2022. This includes what the developers call a Northern Country Park on two fields opposite Whitehouse Farm, and immediately south of Brandy Hole Copse Local Nature Reserve (see map). It’s proposed these fields would not be developed for housing but remain as Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace, or SANGS in planning jargon. This approach compensates for the loss of greenspace on the remainder of Whitehouse Farm.
The Chichester Society has made a formal objection to creating a Northern Country Park, because this proposal is misplaced. Country Parks was introduced in the Countryside Act 1968 for the development of ‘honeypot’ recreational facilities on the outskirts of London and other major urban areas. The intention was to discourage people from driving into the surrounding countryside. A good example is Queen Elizabeth Country Park between Horndean and Petersfield which provides a large car park, café, gift shop, tourist information and toilets as well as cycleways and guided walks through the forest and to Butser Hill.
Local Nature Reserve
Brandy Hole Copse (formerly named East Broyle Copse) is a 15 acre area of woodland, on the southern side of Brandy Hole Lane. Part belongs to Chichester District Council and the rest to two landowners. The public are allowed to visit the Copse on foot from several access points on Brandy Hole Lane and Centurion Way cycle-footpath. Years ago, most of the Copse was impenetrable but a hurricane-force storm in 1987 brought down many trees. A public meeting in 1989 called by the District Council and Sussex
Existing-View-south
Wildlife Trust led to the formation of the Brandy Hole Copse Conservation Group, now the Friends of Brandy Hole Copse, to care for it. After years of work including enlarging two ponds and creating footpaths, the Copse was designated a Local Nature Reserve in 2001.
Up to the present time, Brandy Hole Copse (BHC) is the only designated Local Nature Reserve in Chichester District. It’s managed by the Council through the BHC
Management Board. Members include council officers, District and City councillors and residents of local bodies including the Chichester Society. A long-held wish of the Friends is that the two fields immediately south of the Copse should be planted as wildflower meadows and included within an enlarged Local Nature Reserve. These fields and the Copse were also cherished by the late naturalist Richard Williamson as being of major importance for nature conservation. As a tribute to Richard, we reproduced an evocative article he wrote for the Chichester Observer in May 2013 and published it in the September 2022 Newsletter. He asked whether Cicestrians cared about this green space? We and the Friends of Brandy Hole Copse certainly do!
Wildflower-meadow-in-NW-Chichester
At the time of writing, the two fields are still part of Whitehouse Farm and the larger field is still farmed.
The owners have for many years allowed people to walk along the borders of both fields and this has been widely enjoyed by those visiting Brandy Hole Copse and Centurion Way. The developers’ proposals give no details of how the country park would be created but show paths and cycleways wandering across the fields with clumps of trees and play-on-the-way facilities.
Expanding the nature reserve
We think these two fields should be brought under the management of Brandy Hole Copse Local Nature Reserve and given priority to nature as is the case with the Copse itself. The paths around the borders of the fields should be well surfaced for use by buggies and wheelchairs for access into the Copse and Centurion Way. A cycleway could also be provided from Old Broyle Road (B2178) to Centurion Way. The newly planted meadows would be protected as nature is allowed to take over.
The District Council’s updated Local Plan designates Centurion Way as one of a series of wildlife corridors connecting Chichester Harbour with the South Downs. The Copse sits astride this corridor with the new wildlife meadows adjacent to it acting as stepping- stones for nature as climate change gains momentum.
Chichester City Council has just completed a twinning ceremony with the German city of Speyer. Rodney Duggua tells the story.
Before describing Chichester’s latest twinning (we also have civic links with Malta, Chartres in France and Ravenna in Italy), it will help to understand where Speyer is located and what makes it so very special. You can see on the map that Speyer is on the banks of the River Rhine, north of Strasbourg at the same latitude as Paris – so not far from Chichester.
With a population a little over 50,000 Speyer is one of Germany’s oldest towns dating to the Romans. Indeed, the original Roman name for Speyer is Noviomagus as it was for Chichester. Speyer has a cathedral designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO and has a great deal of history, heritage and character. It’s a fitting civic match to twin with Chichester.
Twinning with Chichester
Speyer’s location is on the Rhine east of Paris and north of Strasbourg. This sketch is an approximation, not to scale
What encouraged links with Speyer is that Chartres and Ravenna have civic ties with Speyer, so why not with Chichester as well? The reasoning behind this caution is that Speyer was already twinned with Spalding in Lincolnshire, a link that is now defunct. This has provided Chichester with an opportunity to fill a ‘civic gap’. The outcome is that Chichester City Council formally agreed in September 2019 to explore links with Speyer. Nearly three years later, with Covid travel restrictions lifted, Speyer’s representatives came on a fact-finding visit to Chichester in August 2022 – their Deputy Mayor and Director of Tourism.
The weather held fair to show Chichester and its environs at their very best. There was a packed programme. Speyer’s representatives fell in love with our city and eagerly posed
the question of ‘when can we sign on the dotted line?’ Both Councils had to meet to ratify the formal twinning decision, which was done within weeks of each other last autumn.
Christopher Mead-Briggs explains the Local Plan has reached its final stage
There can be few jobs tougher than pulling together the changes needed to our out-of-date Local Plan so that it passes an Inspector’s Examination. It was in 2017 that we were first introduced to the ‘Preferred Approach’ document that began this process followed by a public consultation on ‘Issues and Options’ in the winter of 2018.
Since then, work has been on-going with specialist planners, transport experts and statisticians who have been meeting government agencies to review how the growth in our District area in terms of new housing and employment can be managed. With all our geographical and physical constraints, an A27 which needs upgrading, a Harbour that’s an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a National Park, can Chichester meet the housing targets set by Government?
New housing numbers down
The District Council agreed on 24 January to submit reduced housing numbers. The Government had required our District to build 638 dwellings per annum; the new figure is 575 a year for the length of the Plan period of 18 years from 2021 until 2039.
The biggest update in the revised plan is however more emphasis on climate change,
the natural environment, the importance of gaps between settlements, the establishment
of Strategic Wildlife Corridors, biodiversity and the need to protect our designated landscape areas. In addition thought has been given to the possibility of a new settlement altogether where longer term housing growth might be accommodated elsewhere than Chichester.
The revised Plan has been out for public consultation between 3 February and 17 March this year and will be followed by an Examination led by an Inspector; only then can it be approved. We’ve reached what’s called Regulation 19 stage in the process and this
means that the submitted Plan will now carry more weight in those planning appeals that
are outstanding.
Other policies
As part of the process, housing allocations have risen in Tangmere but reduced to nil in
the Manhood Peninsular with the exception of North Mundham. Additional employment land is allocated along the A27 at Bognor Road, and at Westhampnett to allow the expansion of the existing Rolls Royce factory. There are proposals to encourage the vitality of Chichester’s city centre reflecting the recent changes to planning regulations and also to
tourism generally.
Let’s hope the Local Plan Review succeeds.
…………………………… Christopher Mead-Briggs is a member of the Society’s Executive Committee.
From The Chichester Society’s Newsletter no 215 March 2023
A printed copy of the Newsletter is sent to members, while previous issues are available on the website – so if you’re not a member then do join so not to miss out on the latest!
IN THIS ISSUE
1 Editorial
2 In Search of Chichester
3 Vincent Porter: a tribute Chichester’s heritage: research results
4 The Festival Theatre at 60
6 Coastal Partners: protection against the sea
8 UK Harvest: food for those in need
10 Winter 1962: the Festival Theatre
12 An architecture centre: thinking about the city
14 Tinwood: Chichester’s local vineyard
16 Now and Then at Eastgate Square
17 Planning appeals and farmland
18 The Society’s AGM
19 A decade of nature restoration
20 Support our advertisers!
CDC will decide on the Local Plan’s content during January 2023 and this will be followed by an 8-week public consultation. The draft Plan will then be sent to the Planning Inspectorate with all the comments. From that date ‘Regulation 19’ status applies, meaning that appeal decisions will follow the revised Plan.
A printed copy of the Newsletter is sent to members, while previous issues are available on the website – so if you’re not a member then do join so not to miss out on the latest!
IN THIS ISSUE
1 Is Chichester fantastic?
2 Richard Williamson
4 Higher density housing
5 ChiSores too much graffiti
6 Monitoring water quality in Chichester Harbour
8 Pallant House Gallery’s 40th birthday
10 Platinum Jubilee weekend
12 The Cathedral and its bishops
14 Glorious walks around Chichester
16 Chichester’s new housing estates
18 The Society’s AGM
19 Reviewing Drawn to Nature
20 Support our advertisers!
A printed copy of the Newsletter is sent to members, while previous issues are available on the website – so if you’re not a member then do join so not to miss out on the latest!
IN THIS ISSUE
1 Daffodil Field saved from development
2 We need a transport hub
4 The arts of Chichester
6 Why we need our trees
8 Breathing life into the city centre
10 Chichester Canal celebrates its bicentenary
12 H E Bates and Chichester
14 Women’s suffrage in this city
16 Twelve walks starting in Chichester
18 Then and now in East Street
19 Blue plaque for Sir Robert Raper
20 Support our advertisers!
* A few years ago, Chichester District Council surveyed its residents and businesses and then produced a document setting out a “Vision” for the city.[1] Among much else, this calls for the area around the train and bus stations to become “a key transport hub“[2].
* The Chichester Society has recently learned that the council is pressing ahead with long-standing proposals to re-develop the area in which the bus and train stations sit, as part of the “Southern Gateway” project. However, far from creating a “transport hub” or a “gateway” worth the name, the council is proposing to take away even the relatively good provision that now exists.
* They are proposing to close the bus station and all its facilities, and replace it with a line of bus stops on a bleak stretch of road which is exposed to the elements, hidden from the train station down a confusing route which “designs in” conflict between pedestrians and vehicles, and pedestrians and cyclists. In addition, there would be no facilities other than the sorry public toilets that happen to already exist in a nearby multi-storey car park.[3],[4]
* This flies in the face of what residents and businesses told the council they wanted, and runs directly counter to the principle of seizing opportunities for good town planning when they arise.
* All current deliberations seem to be taking place behind closed doors, to the exclusion of input from bus and train users and local residents – at precisely the time such input could make the most difference.
* There is no evidence that the Council has yet considered any disability implications.
* The proposal to close the bus station appears to be entirely financially driven. But even the financial assumptions seem questionable.
[1] “Chichester Tomorrow – Your City Your Vision”. https://www.chichester.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=29358&p=0 [2] Vision Document, p.30. [3] This assumes that reports are correct that the stops are to be located on the Avenue de Chartres. If not correct, bus users and Chichester residents need to be brought out of the dark and told what is actually planned. [4] For a fuller discussion of problems of this location, see the commentary on the final page before the appendices, titled “Designs for Chichester – The Worst of All ?”
Most towns outside the South Downs National Park boundary proudly claim that they are a ‘gateway to the National Park.’ Indeed, the National Park Authority consider Chichester to be the major gateway to the National Park from the coastal plain.
This is because, first, Centurion Way will soon be extended from West Dean to Cocking Hill to meet the South Downs Way from Winchester to Eastbourne; and second, because Chichester’s bus and rail stations allow visitors to easily transfer from train to bus and continue on one of the three bus services to Petersfield, Midhurst or Petworth.
Proposals to improve access to the South Downs Way from both Winchester and Eastbourne are under discussion. But Chichester’s access to the Downs may be worsened if Centurion Way is diverted to allow for the Whitehouse Farm phase 2 development and by proposals to close the bus station.
Residents and the District Council need to be aware of these threats.
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