Published in the Portsmouth News on 17th June 2014
GREEN campaigners have claimed a major victory after plans to build 25 homes on a 170-year-old orchard were thrown out.
Hundreds of people wrote to object about the plan to build on the orchard near Emsworth.
Officers at Chichester District Council said the Maybush Copse site, off Cot Lane, Chidham, was within countryside that forms part the Emsworth to Chichester Strategic Gap and also part of the Chichester Harbour Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Ray Cobbett, from Havant Friends of the Earth, which campaigned against the plans, said: ‘We are delighted the council has put the environment as its first priority in this case.
‘It was a well-argued case and had tremendous support.
‘It was never a sustainable proposition and didn’t really tick any of the planning boxes.’
A council decision notice said the development could have a visual impact on the protected harbour.
It adds: ‘Such a proposal would have a detrimental and urbanising effect on the locality, resulting in a serious adverse impact on the landscape character.’
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