Homeowners in Hoe Lane warn of flooding risks

The worries of homeowners along Hoe Lane will be taken up by the site six advisory group of district, county and parish councils and developers.

The pledge was given by Arun District Council's planning service boss Ricky Bower.

He said he would ensure the issue was raised at the advisory group's next meeting.

"I will take the matter to the group and talk directly to the county council about it," he stated.

His comments came after Flansham Residents' Association chairman Stewart Wright urged Arun's councillors to take action to protect Hoe Lane.

He told the members of the development control committee last weekthe flooding risk in the road would be made worse by a planned temporary access to the site six development of 700 homes.

He said: "Hoe Lane has now been flooded twice within the past two years.

"Two months ago, water was streaming over the A259 from Hoe Lane. This was one of the times when the road was flooded.

"The original culvert under Hoe Lane is no longer adequate."

The development proposals needed to ensure water would be drained from Hoe Lane under the A259 to the rife on the other side, he claimed.

Water would otherwise always find its way back to Hoe Lane because the road was the lowest lying point in the area.

His comments backed the association's letter to Arun opposing the temporary access.

This said it would be irresponsible to approve any scheme which could increase water flow into Hoe Lane knowing its vulnerability to flooding.

Yapton Parish Council, whose area includes Hoe Lane, said it was essential extra drainage capacity was provided by the housing's developer, Barratt Homes, before or as a condition of granting temporary access to the building site.

"...to do otherwise would undoubtably exacerbate the problems of incidents of flash flooding in Hoe Lane as a result of the new development works.

"In turn, there would be consequential and continuing adverse effects on the free flow of traffic at this critical location on the A259 road network," it said.

But district council planning officer Keith Wheway said the flooding problem was separate from Barratts' desire for a temporary access to the housing.

"The flooding is an existing situation which is not being caused by site six because that development has not started yet," he committed.

"The county council has been made aware of the residents' concerns about Hoe Lane. The size of the culvert underneath it is inadequate.

"That's a matter for the county council to resolve and not a matter for this application and it can't be made part of the conditions of this application."

He explained the reason behind the desire for a temporary access stemmed from the dire housing market.

Barratt's did not want to build the Bognor Regis northern relief road between two roundabouts '“ one on the A259 near Hoe Lane and the second on the new road '“ because of the cost.

The company instead wanted the temporary road put in to the houses closest to the A259 roundabout. It would build the relief road in stages to reach the next roundabout as more houses were occupied.

The original timetable for the relief road stemmed from a 2004 outline planning application which was approved by the government in November 2006.

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