Old Shoreham is vulnerable to pressure for development and growth. The Friends of Old Shoreham are starting to explore how the community can be involved in creating positive solutions from the earliest opportunity and not be taken by surprise with other people’s plans for the area.
Old Shoreham faces new development pressures:
- The new local and national governments are reviewing local plans and planning regulations
- Planners and developers are actively seeking new sites for homes
- Recent building in Adur’s traditional ‘Green Gap’ have had a direct impact on the area
The area has faced threats before and is always changing. The conflicting demands of travel, transport, developers, commerce, leisure, climate and nature have shaped and changed Old Shoreham for centuries. The needs and wishes of the local community are rarely the first concern of developers, planners and financiers.
From time-to-time people locally have come together to take action and manage change. For example the route of the A27 would be soaring across the river beside St Nicolas church, one of Britain’s oldest buildings, if local activists had not mounted a campaign for a bypass in the 1960s.
Is it time again for local action? We need to have a conversation about ‘planning ahead’, from three perspectives:
- Right now, Adur and Worthing Councils, the new Government and the South Downs National Park are reviewing local plans and the organisation of local government.
- As a community, we need to ‘get ahead of the game’ and be involved in new plans from the beginning, not simply reacting to plans made by people who don’t live here or have any business here.
- As FOldS we need to think about our next priorities. Our first year was about raising awareness of this part of Adur. In 2025 we are developing our understanding of the area through our Capturing Old Shoreham projects. Is the next step to develop our own ideas for improving the place where we live?
At its annual Forum in March, FOldS is starting to explore these questions with friends from AREA, Transition Town Shoreham and the Shoreham Society, all groups that take an active interest in planning and development across Adur. They are joined by local councillors and representatives of Adur’s new Neighbourhood Team which wants to ‘enable communities to help shape their local area’.
- How should Old Shoreham respond to the demand for renewal and growth?
- How we can engage in local planning decisions, from the smallest extension to major housing and commercial developments?
We welcome ideas about how this area could become a better place.
Contact info@oldshoreham.org.
