Smaller homes call in plan for Yapton

The need for one and two-bedroom new properties is among the policies which residents have included in the draft version of their land-use blueprint.

They have also called for one in four of new dwellings to be built to Lifetime homes standards to make them suitable for older people as well as those who are younger.

The initial version of the neighbourhood plan sets aside five sites where housing could be built.

They are: north of Yapton CE Primary School (20 homes), Cinders Lane (30 homes), Main Road/Drove Lane (12 homes), Maypole Field (20 homes) and Old Coal Yard (four homes).

It also calls for faster broadband for the village and the retention of community facilities among its 64 pages.

Details of the plan went on show at the village hall last Saturday.

One of the visitors, village centre resident Paul Myers, 65, said: “I’ve lived here all my life. Everything has grown.

“I don’t want Yapton to be over-developed. Obviously, there’s a case for social housing, but not the large over-development that seems to be going on all over the Arun district.

“This development goes ahead, but nothing else changes. There’s a lack 
of infrastructure.”

The exhibition’s opening 30 minutes saw 31 visitors look round. Deborah Robinson, who chairs the Yapton Neighbourhood Group, said they should have their say.

“It’s important the plan has the support of the community. This plan will draft the shape of the village for the next 15 years. It has to be done with their approval,” she said.

“Everything we have done has been with the community in mind. All the policies 
and objectives have been devised from feedback from the community over the past two-and-a-half years.”

Views from Saturday’s session will be considered by the group along with those to its website – www.ynp.org.uk – until December 21.

The plan’s final version will go out for full consultation for six weeks from next February. It will be scrutinised by an independent examiner in June 2014 before being put before villagers in a poll in July. Approval in the vote means the plan has to be heeded when development is intended for Yapton.

Village MP Nick Gibb was present at the exhibition. He said: “The neighbourhood plan group has done an incredible amount of work of very high quality and which is hugely important for the future of Yapton.

“It sets out where housing is to be located and the mix of development. What we don’t want to see in Yapton is large developments of 200 houses or more.”