BRIGHTON and Hove Albion have sought to allay concerns over a massive planned development which is set to bring an IKEA to Sussex for the first time.

Reaction to the £170 million development, led by Albion, at New Monks Farm in Lancing has been broadly positive but some objections have been posted on the planning application.

The application seeks permission to turn the site, just off the A27 near Lancing, into 600 homes, a primary school, and a community centre as well as the huge 35,000sqm branch of IKEA, which is intended to include a large indoor greenhouse.

Worthing and Adur Chamber of Commerce chief executive Tina Tilley raised concerns over whether the high demand to visit IKEA’s first store in the county would result in huge snarl-ups along already busy parts of the A27.

The club’s executive director Martin Perry said Albion had listened to concerns voiced at the consultations and on the planning application, and said he wanted to reassure residents.

He stressed that studies have shown peak traffic flows on the A27 occur on weekday mornings when traffic to the store will be low.

He said the site has been projected to increase traffic by only one per cent on weekday evenings, and less in the mornings.

The executive director also stated 74 per cent of visitors are projected to travel from the east of the new A27 junction, rather than the busier western end. At the western end the increase will be approximately 30 vehicles per hour.

He added: “Highways England and West Sussex County Council have carried out a detailed analysis of how the site would affect the local road network, and are satisfied the local road network can carry the development proposed subject to a number of highways improvements funded by appropriate contributions from the developers of each of the individual sites.”

In January IKEA executives told The Argus there was no presumption the site would receive planning permission but should that be granted, it would then take one to two years for building the store and the road changes to be completed.

The project will cost the company £60m including the purchase of the freehold on the land and the construction of the vast building, and will employ more than 400 people, generating more than £1.5m in business rates for Adur and Worthing council.

Argus readers described news of the scheme as an “outstanding development”, “good news for one and all” and “absolutely quality”, though some concerns were raised about additional traffic on the A27.