Frequent flooding in Pagham 'will only get worse if more houses are built on greenfields'

Nigel Mundy, who also runs horse sanctuary Pagham Ponies, said plans to build on and around the land he has used for years would make flooding worse.

Mr Mundy shared pictures of the area near Church Barton House, Horns Lane, last month following periods of heavy rainfall.

They show the fields flooded with water which Mr Mundy says will have ‘nowhere to go’ if built on – something known as urban or surface water run-off.

There was 244.8mm of rain in the South East region in November 2022, according to Southern Water, compared to 15.1 mm in November 2021.

October was the wettest month since February with eight river flood alerts in place in the South East, which saw 120 per cent of the long-term average rainfall.

“My trade for most of my working life was civil engineering and groundwork and I know more about drainage than most,” said Mr Mundy, “The planners and developers are not reading the assessment from the Environment Agency correctly. They are only emphasising that the area is low risk.

“It is low risk while the fields remain as is because they are acting as a large soakaway. But in the assessment, the Environment Agency state that areas with hard surfaces i.e. concrete make the risk more widespread.”