Mark Dunn

First and foremost the West Sussex Local Authorities must make friends with the soon-to-be-established National Parks Authority, which will run the National Park, taking over some of the reponsibilities which were previously down to the County Council and Chichester District Council. The authority will have members appointed by DEFRA, and in particular members of County, District and Parish Councils will be appointed, along with other local people, who do not hold elected office. We need to be friends and get our voice heard…..I can and will help to get the diplomacy handled properly, so that proper trusting relationships can be established with the Park Authority.

Having The National Park can be a huge asset for us all. It will encourage visitors and help us maintain the vibrant healthy communities which we enjoy.

But there is a threat that it will be a barrier to affordable housing, and will push almost all new development into the villages which are pinched between the proposed Park and the Chichester Harbour AONB.

This means that the local voice must be raised effectively and responsibly. All the local communities need to be watchful and assertive. They can count on my support.

The National Park is both a threat and a victory. The victory is for conservation and ‘green policies’, which will protect and cherish – even more than before – the wonderful downland of West Sussex.

The threat is just as real, although it is less understood. It results from the relentless Housing Development Pressure on “The Strip”, lying between Emsworth and Chichester, which is neither in the National Park nor in the Chichester Harbour Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, but which is home to most of the people who live in the County Council’s Electoral Division of The Bourne.

The communities of Southbourne, parts of Chidham and Westbourne – and their surrounding hamlets – are being targetted by developers. They need a correspondingly louder and more focussed effort to protect them from developers, who have become over-aggressive.

I undertake to speak up in support of local people who feel under threat from over development. I will support the Chichester District Councillors who carry the weighty responsibility for Development Control, and do my best to make local opinion prevail over remote faceless planners.