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THE WAITROSE application continues to be very much at the forefront of our concerns. Some people think it is a single, stand-alone issue. We disagree: it has enormous implications for many aspects of village life.

This link DC/11/2334 takes you to the Planning Documents on Horsham District Council’s website.  You will notice that the great majority of representations OBJECT to this application. Most recently, West Chiltington PC and Spofforths have added their voices to those against.  Spofforths has been a respected Storrington business for many years. It knows and understands the commercial life of the village. Its comments are worthy of careful consideration.

So many thoughtful, reasoned objections… Let us hope our elected representatives are listening.

Please help to persuade them to REJECT this application in its present form by adding your voice to those of the many villagers who fear being swamped by this out-of-scale development.                                          

For helpful ideas and useful addresses please go to Letters/Petitions. Click here for other useful addresses and websites.

Please click here to read the minutes of the recent meeting of the Strategic Environmental Services Select Committee, at which the SOS petition on Storrington’s traffic problems was debated. PLEASE NOTE that these minutes have still to be confirmed by the next meeting of the SESSC.

The SESSC’s resolution on the petition may be found on page 4 of the minutes. County Councillor Derek Deedman’s blog is also worth reading on this issue.

Since launching this website in October 2011 we have campaigned to maintain and enhance the quality of life for residents of Storrington and Sullington by persuading the authorities to tackle our village’s traffic problems and stop Waitrose’s proposed huge store extension.

We have focused attention on the inevitable damage to the character and environment of Storrington if there are further increases in levels of traffic and air pollution. To this end, we opened a petition calling on West Sussex County Council to assess and tackle the traffic problem. It also asked WSCC to consider very carefully its response to any proposals that might make matters worse.

This application closed on 4 February 2012 with over 1,300 signatures obtained within three months.   This is a great result and we hope that it has the desired effect.  Look at this photo to see how the A283 used regularly to look.   It wasn’t designed for the size and volume of vehicles that now travel regularly on it.

No – we’re not harking back to the so-called ‘good old days’. But this photo from the 1920s reminds us of the sort of traffic Storrington’s roads were built to handle. Not a lorry in sight! If anything, the road is narrower today as the pavements are better defined.

WAITROSE wants to build a store almost as big as its Worthing branch – and nearly three times as big as its current store! That is just too large for Storrington.

We are not against sensible development, on a scale appropriate for our village and its roads. But this town-sized store would dominate our Downland village – and it would bring in even more vehicles. That is inevitable – and unacceptable.

Remember: Storrington has no by-pass, nor any possibility of getting one. The A283 goes through our village and will continue to do so.

With a population of only 5,000 or so, there’s no way our village could sustain such a huge store. And much as we like our neighbouring villages and their residents, we do not want to become a shopping hub for their convenience. But that is exactly what would happen if Waitrose were to get its way.

Waitrose also intends to construct a two-storey car park. This ghastly edifice would be as welcome in our Downland village as a hedgehog in a balloon factory.

Waitrose says it plans to bury the lower level. But incredibly, the existing ground level would be raised by about a metre – considerably more in places. Result: some local traders would find their shop frontages effectively obscured from public view!

We hope that parish councillors, some of whom expressed deep concern about this issue, will make their views known clearly and unequivocally to Waitrose and HDC.

What would Waitrose do if someone tried to obscure one of its shop frontages?

Waitrose has yet to tell us how many thousands of tonnes of earth and spoil would be excavated from the site – and then transported through the village on innumerable HGVs. Its reticence is entirely understandable.

And how many tonnes of building materials would have to be brought ON TO the site?

Why won’t Waitrose accept the strongly expressed views of a sizeable proportion of the community and revise its plans accordingly? It is all too obvious that Storrington doesn’t have the infrastructure to take such a huge store.

Doesn’t Waitrose pride itself on its community values?

Why won’t Waitrose delay its application until Traffic and Air Quality assessments become available so the likely effects of this expansion can be properly calculated?

No wonder the petition objecting to the proposed Waitrose reached over 840 signatures in just six weeks!  It is time Waitrose started listening.

On 17 January 2012 we presented it to Mr Rod Brown, HDC’s Head of Planning and Environmental Services, to let him know how unpopular this application is.

We are delighted to say that this petition is still LIVE. If you’d like to sign please email admin@saveourstorrington.org.uk and we’ll get straight back to you. We’d be even more delighted if you could you help to gather more signatures!

Traffic and air quality are of most immediate concern to Storrington residents. But residents are growing increasingly aware of the other implications of allowing this store to expand so drastically. A quick glance at the plans and the ‘before and after’ images is enough to show that what is on offer is a takeover of the village.

Just look at this photomontage image that appears in the application. How high is that wall? (This is only part of it, by the way – there’s more to the left.) And that bit in the middle’s even higher!  And they think we should welcome this development?

This huge and obtrusive structure would dominate Storrington. Try as they might, the photomontage views cannot hide the ugliness and excessive size of this proposed construction. It would be completely out of keeping with our village. It is not suitable for any village. Indeed, would any town want such an eyesore?

Let there be no mistake:  the Waitrose/John Lewis Partnership’s business model may well attract plaudits from the deputy prime minister but it is still an important, powerful corporation whose interests lie firmly in consolidating their undoubted business success for their partners/employees.

Storrington is already proving highly lucrative for Waitrose. Now they want even more from us.

Their plans threaten to alter the retail balance in Storrington. This huge store would stock many products currently sold by local traders. Waitrose also plans to devote 1,000 sq ft to the e-commerce element of its business. With free delivery there would be an inevitable escalation in diesel-fuelled light goods vehicles.

IT IS TIME TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!