Planning appeals for sites in Fishbourne and Tangmere rejected by inspector

Three of the appeals related to Bethwines Farm, in Fishbourne, which saw plans to change the use of land to provide a ‘doggy day care’ refused in November 2021.

Plans to change the use of 501sqm of an agricultural building to storage were refused prior approval in April, and plans to re-grade agricultural land to create natural grass and wetlands were declared invalid by the council in February.

In his ruling, planning inspector Thomas Bristow said using the site as a ‘doggy day care’ would not be appropriate as ‘it would be harmful to local character’.

As for the prior approval application, Mr Bristow said there were ‘irresolvableambiguities’ in the information provided and it had not been demonstrated that the change would not impact on the roads in the area or the living conditions of neighbours.

He added that the third application would amount to a material change of use in the land.

Fishbourne Housing Limited – the applicant in the latter two appeals – was ordered to pay the council the costs of the proceedings for the last of the them.

The fourth appeal concerned plans to build 10 units at the Littlemead Business Centre, in Tangmere, which was refused in October 2021.

The centre occupies the former Littlemead School buildings and the plan was to add the new units on the far side.

Inspector RJ Redford said the scheme would conflict with the area’s development plan and would have ‘a detrimental impact on the character of the countryside’.