No To Village Homes

The bulky size of the flats would have spoilt the setting, next to the village's conservation area, while the terraced houses would have affected the privacy of other homes nearby and dominated properties further down the slope, the inspector has ruled.

Neighbours, Angmering Parish Council and Arun councillors were among opponents of the bid to build a block of eight flats and a terrace of four houses between Water Lane and Lansdowne Road.

The scheme, by Worthing-based Roffey Homes Ltd, was refused planning permission by Arun in September last year, but the developers appealed against the decision at a hearing conducted by the inspector, Isobel McCretton, in July.

The terraced houses were proposed for part of the garden of 6 Lansdowne Road, and the flats, together with 15 garages and six parking spaces, would have been built on the site of a semi-derelict bungalow at 24 Water Lane.

A public footpath from Lansdowne Road to the Lamb Inn separates the two sites.

In her appeal decision, Mrs McCret-ton said the development would be "an over-intensive and unsympathetic infill, out of keeping with the character of the village".

The density of the proposed housing, the equivalent of 49 homes per hectare, was at the very top of government policy for urban land, but on this site that left little space for landscaping at the side boundaries, to soften the impact of the buildings.

Large, projecting balconies and dormer windows in the flats building would, in the inspector's opiniion, highlight its "uncharacteristic size".

Some residents claimed that, with 600 houses already being built in Angmering at the new Bramley Green development off Roundstone Lane, the land should not be built on.

But Mrs McCretton said she recognised the need for "the efficient development of urban land" and considered there could be scope for development there, as long as it did not have "the same adverse impact on the surrounding occupiers and the character of the area".

Around 20 villagers and representatives of Arun, the parish council and the Angmering Society attended July's hearing, along with Roffey Homes' architect, agent and a company representative.

Lansdowne Road resident Peter Smith welcomed the appeal decision.

He said: "The inspector recognised the strength of feeling within the community and it is clear that if residents are prepared to spend time communicating with each other and co-ordinating their objections, then they are listened to and their views are taken into account."