Adur council to throw out developers' 'unrealistic' plans

Developers' plans showing trees and shrubs must be realistic, Adur District Council says

A West Sussex council says it will not tolerate "unrealistic" artist's impressions of developments which show non-existent trees or shrubs.

Adur District Council says it will not accept plans which fail to show which plants will be kept and which will not.

It comes after a developer felled 36 trees in Shoreham, despite telling the planning committee they would be kept.

A report into the incident highlighted several examples where developers had not planted trees as promised.

The report said this "brings the credibility of the planning system into disrepute", the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

It can sometimes be the result of "unrealistic" CGI images which are used by developers to "sell their schemes to the planning committee and the local community", it added.

The planning committee has approved a number of changes for developers, including asking them to remove planting from artist's impressions if it "screens" other details.

Planning officers will also ask developers to check if proposed tree planting is physically possible.

"There's no point developers just showing trees in locations where there are services, or where there's potential restrictions," said James Appleton, the council's head of planning.

If developers want to remove trees after gaining planning permission, they will also be asked to submit another application to the council.

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