Offington outrage

Plans by Aspinal to knock down two detached homes between 11 and 15 Offington Lane and build six flats and 13 houses on the land has left people living nearby extremely concerned - and 57 of them have sent letters of objections or petitions to Worthing planning officers.

The residents, who are predominantly elderly, claim:

l Offington Lane is already congested enough,

l It will be even more difficult to cross the road

l Noise from the building work will be unbearable

l Views from their windows will be spoilt

Crowds of residents gathered outside the proposed site on Monday to make clear their objections.

Bob Cantle lives directly next door to the proposed site.

Mr Cantle said: "Many residents, including elderly people at Guardian Court in Rogate Road and The Courtyard in Offington Lane, are up-in-arms over this proposed development and are prepared to fight this unsympathetic development until we win.

"Last December, a resident of Guardian Court was tragically killed at the Thomas A'Becket crossroads.

"Access to this new development is only 50 yards away from the traffic lights at this dangerous crossroads and five yards away from a bus stop.

"Further fatal accidents may occur to pedestrians, cyclists and vehicle users in this beautiful, tree-lined road if it is proposed to site access for another 37 vehicles to come out into Offington Lane.

"Both my wife and I have to be extremely careful manoeuvring our vehicles out of driveway. We have to drive very slowly over the pavement, edging our way out, almost stopping every foot of the way.

"With the possibility of increased traffic activity resulting from the construction of this development, the risk of accidents would be substantially increased."

Penny Dudman, of The Courtyard, said: "I am concerned because I understand the driveway for this new development will come out onto Offington Lane. We have enough problems now with the traffic and crossing the road."

Corinne Hale said: "It is the noise which worries me and the fact if this goes through it will set a precedent along Offington Lane, which is a shame because it will become another Grand Avenue with it flats."

Gladys Walters lives in Guardian Court. She said: "I live in the flats overlooking this site and my flat is on the first floor. I am going to miss all the tress they take down and the garages are going to be next to the fence where we sit in the afternoons."

Sylvia Askey, of The Courtyard, said: "My balcony is in full view of the site. We are worried it will devalue our properties. There are a lot of elderly people who live here and it already takes them a long time to cross the road."

Paul Frances, of Offington Lane, said: "Because people park on the road, if an emergency vehicle comes south it can never get through. The road is not wide enough for this development and it should not be this close to the traffic lights either."

The traffic increase is also a concern for Kenneth Hill. He said: "If you come and stand by the road, you will see how much traffic there is."

Joyce and William Tipping also agreed with Mr Hill.

Paul Pennicott, development control manager for Worthing Council, said: "We are getting a lot of schemes like this at the moment.

"We did protect Offington Lane in the old Local Plan, which has now been replaced, and we recognised it as place of particular character. But the Government's advice is we can't protect roads like Offington Lane in the future."

Mr Pennicott said the application would be discussed at the planning meeting on August 31 at 2.30pm in the Town Hall.

A spokesperson for Aspinal declined to comment.