More housing 'would wreck Six Villages'

Mr Herbert, MP for Arundel and the South Downs, said the level of new development which could be carried out around the settlements would ruin their character.

He was speaking as part of the continuing debate over Arun District Council's options for accommodating 11,500 new homes by 2026.

The three choices all involve some building around the villages. One of the options has 2,500 homes in the Westergate, Barnham and Eastergate area along with 500 at Angmering.

In the other possibilities, between 400 to 900 homes could be built around the inland settlements or 5,000 in an eco-town at Ford.

Mr Herbert, who is the Conservatives' shadow environment minister, said: "My concern is that, if this level of new housing is focused on Arun's villages, then the rural character of the district will be lost irrevocably.

"We simply cannot agree with development on this scale. Local people have been presented with 'Hobson's Choice', where all of the options for development are undesirable.

"I don't blame the district council. It's the government which has imposed unsustainable house building targets on them."

Mr Herbert has chaired a meeting attended by town and parish councillors from Aldingbourne, Angmering, Arundel, Barnham, Climping, Eastergate, Ford, Walberton and Yapton.

This agreed to back the option put forward by Arun for most of the new housing to take place on the fringes of North Bersted and Littlehampton.

Any new housing for the villages should be spread around rather than concentrated in specific locations, the meeting agreed.

Public consultation about the proposals has closed. Officers are now sifting through some 3,000 responses before they ask councillors to make a decision.

This will be tested by a government inspector at an examination in public before a final outcome is known.

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