Barnham hall plans: officials hold the key

The civil servants at the Government Office for the South East have two weeks in which to decide if they want to take over deciding the proposal for Murrells Field.

The Sports Council also has to be consulted about the scheme, off Church Lane, because it involves taking away at least one playing pitch.

The requirement for both bodies to be involved to avoid any unnecessary loss of open-air play spaces came into force just nine days before Arun District Council's development control committee was due to decide about the plans last Wednesday.

But the need to re-advertise the scheme anyway, because the fact it involves development in a rural area was omitted from the original application, led councillors to delegate the decision on their behalf to their head of development control, Karl Roberts, and committee chairman Dawn Hall.

The extra time '“ until May 21 '“ will be used to try to overcome the committee's concerns about the impact of the 1.55m hall on its immediate neighbour.

Its members made it clear they backed the scheme, but they were unhappy with the bin storage area and three parking spaces being placed next to Larkfield.

Julie Robinson, who lives in Larkfield, said she feared her life would be ruined. The health hazards from the bins underneath her home's windows as well as having cars parked next to one of her walls would severely damage her quality of life.

"My home will be surrounded by this development on three sides. The hall will be only 4m from my home," she explained.

But Caroline Bettsworth, a committee member of Barnham Community Pre-School, said the new hall was desperately needed to replace the existing 80-year-old building at the end of its life.

"The current hall is much too small, it is cramped and very damp. It has poor kitchen and toilet facilities and an inadequate storage area," she stated.

She said the pre-school was among the hall's 17 user groups backing the building.

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