Our Proposals
City & Country Group’s vision for the estate is to secure its long-term future by:
- Restoring, converting and enhancing the listed buildings, including the Sanatorium, Chapel and Engine House, to their former glory
- Providing exceptional assisted care homes in the refurbished main hospital building together with new houses and apartments, sympathetically designed and sensitively located to preserve the setting of the listed buildings and garden
- Restoring, refurbishing and enhancing the listed Gertrude Jekyll gardens and measured pine walks through the grounds
- Restoring and reinvigorating the wider grounds to improve their appearance and ecology, enhancing the estate’s contribution to the surrounding South Downs National Park
- Putting in place a long-term plan for the management of the estate to safeguard its future
English Heritage’s Planning Policy
English Heritage has developed specific policy guidance for the restoration of historic places, Enabling Development and the Conservation of Significant Places. This recognises that in certain cases additional development is required to fund the restoration of historic places that may be contrary to other planning policies, this is known as enabling development.
City & Country Group has worked hard to ensure its plans comply with English Heritage’s strict policy guidance. This outlines that enabling development that would secure the future of an historic place but may contravene other planning policy objectives and should be acceptable if:
Policy |
| City & Country Group’s Plans |
It will not materially harm the heritage value of the place or setting
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| The setting of the historic buildings and gardens will be improved by the removal of the modern buildings and car parks, whilst the sensitive location of new development and the restoration of the buildings and gardens will add heritage value.
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It avoids detrimental fragmentation of management of the place
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| By establishing a management company to maintain the whole estate, paid for by the new residents, we will ensure that its integrity is maintained.
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It will secure the long-term future of the place and, where applicable, its continued use for a sympathetic purpose
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| Our plans provide a long-term solution for the future of the estate, so that further development will not be required. Once the restoration is complete, a management plan will ensure it is appropriately maintained and the new community that will be created will want to ensure its best interests are preserved.
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It is necessary to resolve problems arising from the inherent needs of the place, rather than the circumstances of the present owner, or the purchase price paid
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| Our plans are based on a detailed analysis of the buildings, landscape, and ecology and respond to their needs, rather than the circumstances of the current or previous owners of the hospital. |
Sufficient subsidy is not available from any other source
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| Given the extent of work required, it is not possible to fund the restoration of the estate from subsidies. |
If it is demonstrated that the amount of enabling development is the minimum necessary to secure the future of the place, and that its form minimises harm to other public interests
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| The new homes proposed are the minimum required to facilitate the restoration based on our detailed analysis of the condition of the estate. Our financial calculations will be verified by Chichester District Council’s own cost consultant.
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The public benefit of securing the future of the significant place through such enabling development decisively outweighs the disbenefits of breaching other public policies.
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| The overriding aim of the proposals is to secure the future of this much-loved local landmark for the enjoyment of future generations. Once the restoration is complete, public open days will be held every year. |
Previous planning approvals
There have been three previous planning applications brought forward for a mix of development types, none of which have been deliverable.
1. New Hospital and Homes, July 2003
- 500,000 sq ft development
- New hospital
- 222 new homes through conversion of part of the original hospital buildings and 132 new build homes
- Surface car parking
This planning consent has expired
2. New Homes with leisure facilities, 2006
- 295,000 sq ft development
- 337 new homes through conversion of the former hospital buildings and new build
- Leisure facilities – gym, swimming pool, pitch & putt, tennis courts, cricket ground
- Surface car parking
- Planning consent valid until 2011
Undeliverable: £40 – £50m deficit
3. New assisted care homes with facilities, 2008
- 204,000 sq ft development
- 228 assisted care homes for the elderly
- 33 homes for staff
- Chapel restored to provide a health centre with underground swimming pool
- Facilities – cricket pitch and pavilion, shop with a flat above
- Surface car parking
Planning consent valid until 2011. Undeliverable: £50 – £60m deficit.