Nick Billington is the the Associate Director of Planning for the West of Chichester Development which is project managed by Tetra Tech Limited. He led the virtual meeting yesterday evening on the 30th June 2021 presenting the Vistry-Miller Phase 2 plans. This included details of the long awaited Southern Access Road plans.
A time table for initial community discussion of the plans was also provided prior to the meeting and is shown below:

To view the virtual exhibition of plans for the outline planning for Phase 2 of the West of Chichester Development, you may follow this link: https://vpc.tetratecheurope.com/engage/westchichesterpart2/ a large downloadable PDF version is available here.

A large PDF file containing the 12 drawings accompanying the proposals is available here. An even larger version is available here.

Some FoCW members had trouble viewing this very large file showing all the drawings at once and we have some less detailed clips to give a quick view to those with less powerful PCs

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The plans are certainly an improvement on early drafts seen by the FoCW that severed Centurion Way at Bishop Luffa School.

Concerns remain about how cycles will cross the junction between Westgate and Sherbourne Rd. Initial viewings of the drawings indicate that cyclists may be expected to use unsuitable pavements inappropriately converted to shared use cycle tracks. An image clipped from one of the proposals drawings is shown below.

The light grey areas in the image above indicate areas intended for cycling.

Friends of Centurion Way have campaigned since October 2017 to retain existing good quality walking and cycling facilities on the western side of Chichester.

The initial 2017 Southern Access Road (SAR) proposals involved the removal of the southern end of Centurion Way with cyclists being relocated in both directions onto an unsuitable shared use pavement passing through multiple school bus stops. The proposed shared pavement also included a difficult to negotiate crossing of the northern arm of a new roundabout at Bishop Luffa School. It was planned that people travelling between Chichester and Fishbourne would have to make a lengthy detour to the north to reach a shared pedestrian/cycle SAR crossing and then double back on themselves back past the opposite side of the new Bishop Luffa roundabout to reach the footbridge. This diversion would increase these walking and cycling journeys by just over 276 metres going in either direction! A ChiCycle article detailed these issues here.

The initial poor quality draft plans for the (SAR) appeared to have been rejected by our local planing authorities but this has left the Friends of Centurion Way campaign in a strange limbo situation ever since. For four years Linden Miller have flatly refused to discuss their plans for the SAR claiming that disclosure might compromise commercial negotiations. Finally in late June 2021 we are about to find out what is planned for the SAR that should already be opened to construction traffic if Planning Performance Agreements had been adhered to. Linden Miller are only now readying themselves to disclose the new plans to residents and the wider local community.

Local planing authorities and Linden Miller originally agreed a time table (Planning Performance Agreement) for the development where the SAR would be opened for construction traffic by the completion of the 125th dwelling. This was reported by the Chichester Observer in an article Southern access delay fears at Whitehouse Farm (31st July 2017). It can also be viewed as an informative statement within the Phase 1 outline planning agreement on page 14. It states:

49) The Planning Performance Agreement and Development Delivery Timeline set out a commitment by the applicant to seek to deliver the southern access to the site within a specified timescale. In light of this, the Local Planning Authority anticipates that the southern access will be available for use by construction traffic no later than occupation of the 125th dwelling forming part of the Phase 1 scheme hereby permitted and that the southern access will be available for all traffic no later than occupation of the 225th dwelling as outlined in the agreed Planning Performance Agreement and the associated Development Delivery Timeline. The Local Planning Authority is committed to working with the developer and other relevant bodies with a land interest to deliver this.

Our fear is that the new SAR proposal will look similar to the original draft plan illustrated below.

An png image for flyers is available below and is also available in PDF format on this link.

ChiCycle campaign for better cycling and walking provision around the Chichester area. We encourage creation of even more facilities like Centurion Way to help get people (especially children) outside, happy and active so they can enjoy improved health and well-being. Investing in walking and cycling infrastructure brings significant economic and health benefits as acknowledged by the Department for Transport here. Join us for an enjoyable summer family orientated picnic and help us show how much we value this wonderful walking and cycling route.

Richard Turnbull of www.brightride.org.uk is conducting some market research to find out if there is demand for hiring out e-bikes in Chichester. If you want to invite friends and family to experience Centurion Way, an e-bike hire scheme might be an appealing prospect for you? Maybe you would be interested in trying out an e-bike yourself?

If you have time, please complete Richards online questionnaire he has created here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScdsUS1hSQQ40wXybhA6QhPA8jNaHxYyrP7qePhq1dtd0OaAw/viewform

If you have not already tried riding e-bikes, they feel very much like riding a standard bike except they involve much less physical effort (particularly when going up hills).