The Worthing Herald reports:
Despite £800,000 being spent fixing the drainage on the A27, the busy trunk-road is still vulnerable to flooding with fed-up motorists facing yet more delays last week.
After months of disruption and lane closures in 2012, the dual carriageway still could not cope with the volume of water coming off the South Downs this winter.
But the Highways Agency denies that its drainage work has failed, arguing that it was never meant to deal with this kind of flooding.
The Sussex Express reports the Director of Planning for the South Downs National Park, Tim Slaney, as saying:
The Rampion wind farm proposals would harm the landscape and cultural heritage of the South Downs National Park introducing 175 turbines into the iconic views from the Sussex Heritage Coast and cause large scale disruption to the landscape of the National Park through the construction of a 14km long and 30m wide cable corridor.
The South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA), which attended 11 days of public examination and submitted in excess of 270 pages of evidence, recommended that the Secretary of State should refuse to grant permission to ensure that the landscape and cultural heritage of the National Park is conserved.
The Sussex Express reports:
A consortium of landowners have failed in a High Court bid to tear up Wealden District Council’s housing plans for the next 16 years and force it to go back to the drawing board.
One of the country’s top judges dismissed the challenge brought by the group, known as Ashdown Forest Economic Development LLP, to the Council’s Core Strategy Local Plan (CSLP.)
The group claimed the Council, the South Downs National Park Authority and a Government planning inspector who had cleared it to be adopted had been too cautious and protective of the environment and nearby Ashdown Forest. However, Mr Justice Sales today rejected all of the group’s grounds of complaint.
More details at the link.
If you somehow managed to miss both editions of Roy Taylor’s talk in Poynings last November, then you have another chance to catch it on Tuesday 4th March at 7.30pm in Harriet Johnson Hall, Sompting. Details here.
Wednesday 12 March 2014 at 7:00pm, Woodlands Meed College, Birchwood Grove Road, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, RH15 0DP.
For further information and an agenda please contact: talkwithus@westsussex.gov.uk or telephone 0330 22 22527.
The Midhurst and Petworth Observer reports:
A House of Commons debate on national parks .. was called in response to a government proposal to allow the conversion of up to three dwellings, or the replacement of existing farm buildings, without planning permission.
Mr [Nick] Herbert warned the proposals could lead to ‘the creation of a suburbia .. and inappropriate development — new haciendas and gin palaces — instead of maintaining the character of the parks and the landscape, which was precisely why they were created’.
A number of Conservative MPs, many representing constituencies that lie partly or wholly within national parks, spoke against the proposals. Concerns have also been raised by the South Downs Society and the Campaign for National Parks.
The Argus has just posted a long report about a property developer’s plans to merge Ovingdean and Woodingdean.
Andrea Dickson
Clerk to Fulking Parish Council
01444 451 060
andreadicksonfpc@gmail.com
The March issue of BN5 has an article [PDF] about Fulking fused glass artist Pauline Findlay. Pauline is running a series of two-hour workshops in March to introduce people to her techniques (Saturday 8th March 10:00–12:00; Wednesday 12th March 5:30–7:30; Tuesday 18th March 10:00–12:00; and Saturday 29th March 10:00–12:00). More details at her website.