DEVELOPERS are hosting a public exhibition of a proposed estate in Petersfield.

The exhibition on Friday, September 18, in Petersfield Library runs from 3pm to 7pm, and is being put on by David Wilson Homes and Bovis Homes.

It is being held just eight days after the South Downs National Park Authority is expected to agree an increase in the potential number of homes built in the town by 2028.

National park planning officers are recomending that the number of houses built on the Causeway Farm site is increased from 159, to a maximum of 200.

A target of minimum 700 new houses in Petersfield has been set by the government, and the Petersfield Neighbourhood Plan (PNP) has found sites for all of them.

But for it to be adopted it has to be approved by a government planning inspector; and he has said there is uncertainty surrounding some proposed housing sites in the town.

Although he accepts they may be developed as proposed, he says that the number of homes allocated for the Causeway Farm site must be increased to 200, to cover any shortfalls in building.

South Downs National Park Authority is the Petersfield planning authority and is virtually obliged to adopt his recomendations.

In his report Inspector Chistopher Lockhart Mummery said: “Thisd modification at Causeway farm will increase the overall housing allocation for the PNP.

“This will allow for the uncertainty in the deliverability of a number of other sites in the PNP.”

Tomorrow (Thursday 10) the South Downs National Park (SDNPA) planning committee is due expected to approve his recomendation and modify the PNP to include the Causeway Farm increase.

The inspector also suggests that an upper and lower limit of dwellings for a proposed care complex off Rival Moor Road should be scrapped as it is “not appropriate.”

But he has agreed to all the green spaces proposed in the PNP.

The SDNPA planning committeee public meeting is in the South Downs Centre, North Street, Midhurst, GU29 9DH, starting at 10am.

Meeting agenda and backround reports are available from the SDNPA website, or on the day.