The warning came from West Sussex county councillor Louise Goldsmith, who represents the Chichester West division – which includes Fishbourne – in a strongly-worded objection to the district authority, which will decide a planning application submitted for land in Blackboy Lane.

Cllr Goldsmith said the development would be outside the built-up area, and in a strategic gap, and would set a precedent for future planning applications.

She added that one of the main concerns at a meeting of the Fishbourne Action Group on Wednesday was that the application would be the first – a Trojan horse – opening the way for a further 300 houses or so.

"Both Fishbourne and Bosham are two individual villages, with a unique appearance and character which is typical of West Sussex," she declared.

"Encroachment into this 'green lung' will be to the detriment of the surrounding rural area, and is certainly not compatible with it."

The plan was in breach of the West Sussex county structure plan, as the scale of the development would seriously impact on the appearance and character of the village.

The site was on Blackboy Lane, which like Clay Lane was a lane, not a road – and neither lanes were suitable for additional traffic.

"Currently all roads and lanes in Fishbourne village suffer from commuter rat running, and additional traffic from the proposed development will exacerbate the problem further," Cllr Goldsmith added.

Increased development would put greater pressure on the Chichester waste water treatment works, already at capacity, and this could cause additional pollution in the harbour.

The Chichester Society has added its voice of concern over the plans for the 200 homes saying it is a 'gross intrusion into the strategic gap'.

The objection letter from secretary David Wilson said: "We are also underwhelmed by the proposals for the 'country park' which appear to be little more than window-dressing.

"The park includes land which could not be built on anyway because of electricity pylons and a lake whose principal function is to deal with surface run-off.

"Given the current slump in the housing market, we can only regard this application as an attempt to obtain (and then shelve) planning permission before there is time for CDC to create a new Local Development Framework. As such, permission should be refused."

The letter also outlined the need for a new school, Blackboy Lane would need widening to cope with the extra traffic and there would need to be more provision for waste water treatment.


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