In the past on site 6 Bersted Parish Council under my chairmanship took developers and Arun District Head on to argue the case against development on this site. We succesfully applied to the high court to get this site quashed and removed from the local plan only to be let down by the Labour Secretary of State who finally gave planning permission for the site.

My concern is the the New Parish Council has not yet woken up to the danger that lies ahead. I constantly warned that if planning permission for site 6 was granted then all greenfields in Bersted would be at risk of development. With potential allocations within the North West Bersted area they need to have their eye on the ball at all times. Sadly when it came to setting a budget for next year only a small amount was allocated for professional fees to look into these matters. There now seems to be a hardcore who seem to want to cut costs to the taxpayer even though this can be measured in pence to the individual than looking ahead and meet the challenges that will shape the community for decades to come. I can only hope in the long term they will rise to the challenge again.