Losing Goodwood would be a travesty

It's the old story. A 'Catch 22' situation. Britain's rising population needs housing, and it needs it in places where there are jobs. Last time I looked, though, no more land was being made, so the pressure is ramping up. Where degrees of compromise may have been necessary to cope with expansion in the past, accommodating the population boom is making things worse in the 21st century.

But, even if the city of Chichester is bursting at the seams, Westhampnett is not the right place to put a large housing development, with approval for 300 units currently under debate, regardless of whether or not you care about the future of the wonderful Goodwood Motor Circuit.

Motor racing and public housing developments have never been happy bedfellows - only those who started a niche market building circuit resorts for owners, essentially stakeholders, to enjoy their cars in remote areas of Spain, for instance, may have got it right - but like all enthusiasts I get sick of the whining of people who relocate to within a few miles of a track, then express anger when the facility is used.

If you choose to move to Silverstone Village, in the flightpath to London's Heathrow Airport or the shadow of Old Trafford football stadium, live with the consequences. The 'Not In My Back Yard' backlash doesn't wash with me, whatever your legal rights.

The first Revival in 1998 kickstarted Goodwood's new era © LAT

We're not talking solely altruistics within the motorsport fraternity, which the public might accuse of being blinkered, either. The prospect of losing Goodwood's historic temple of speed, playground of the sport's gods from 1948-66, or having its activities limited further, is abhorrent and will have wider ramifications.

Its renaissance in 1998 has provided the biggest boost to local tourism since the completion of Chichester's cathedral as a place of religious pilgrimage more than 900 years ago. Horse racing, established on the Goodwood estate more than 200 years ago, also brings big attendances but there are many other valid reasons for building elsewhere.

Not least among these is that Chichester's existing road system is woefully inadequate. I've no idea what the CDC's planning department was thinking when it signed-off the bypass - which essentially links the M27 from Southampton and Portsmouth to the west with Arundel and onward towards Brighton - but this hapless roundabout-strewn stretch of double-barrelled asphalt across the city's southern fringes has for years been gridlocked within working hours on weekdays and at weekends.

Add more houses within 800 metres of its eastern gyratory 'system' (flanked by a retail park, a superstore, and fast-food outlets) per the plan and that will only exacerbate the misery.

West Sussex's only city does not have a big population (circa 25,000) in itself, but constant expansion in recent decades, principally to the north and west, has seen that grow to perhaps 140,000 in the wider urban area. Chichester's location, hemmed in between the picturesque South Downs and the coast, with its attractive harbours, restricts potential for further growth.

One of the obvious targets, therefore, is the tract of land between Stane Street (the old A27 heading east before the current trunk road was built in the 1980s) and Madgwick Lane, which heads up to the track, home of the hugely popular and influential Revival and Members' Meetings.

It is almost a year since Chichester District Council (CDC) received a planning permission application from Commercial Estates Group (CEG) to build up to 350 new houses there, within half a mile of the former RAF Westhampnett aerodrome that played a key role in World War 2 and upon which the Goodwood racetrack was subsequently opened in September 1948.

That application was vigorously opposed, but CDC is now in receipt of a revised plan to reduce the development to 300 dwellings - ironically the same number that formed the earliest township nearby after the Norman conquest of 1066.

Goodwood in its first heyday: the start of the 1962 RAC TT © LAT

Big developers tactically hit councils with grandiose schemes initially, then back the numbers off to look as if they are acquiescing - whereas in reality it is to achieve the result they wanted in the first place. That's the way they work and how they do their sums.

CEG would have expected opposition to any proposed development at Westhampnett, but it might not have bargained for the double-whammy of Goodwood Estate and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited, whose state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is situated on the fringes of the motor circuit, just over the fence from Madgwick Corner. CDC will ignore their pleas and logical reasoning at its peril.

Goodwood's objection to CEG's initial development application, which it contends is inappropriate and threatens the motor circuit's future, stands. Furthermore, it is unimpressed by the revised plan.

According to a statement issued: "The estate retains its objection to this development scheme as it believes that it is in the wrong location, poorly thought out and planned, and harmful to the future economic, social and environmental interests of the district, and importantly to the setting of the Goodwood Estate.

"The proximity of the site to the motor circuit remains a concern and the reduction in numbers will still mean that there is a sizeable new population created that may complain regarding the noise. It is illogical to place housing in a location that will invite more complaint.

"Although the motor circuit is well managed, this does not mean there are no complaints and the estate is fearful that development of this site will place an increased number of sensitive receptors close to a source of potential noise nuisance."

Rolls-Royce, one of the world's most iconic global brands, committed considerable resource to finding the ideal location for its global HQ, which has created 1000 skilled jobs in the area. Indeed, CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos cited a compelling list of criteria in the BMW-owned company's choice of Goodwood for pragmatic, security and lifestyle reasons.

While proximity to both historic estate and test track were keys to its decision to locate there, Mr Muller-Otvos' response to CDC's publication of the planning application to develop adjacent land underlined the original desire to see the separation of city and Goodwood maintained.

The motor circuit has been part of the fabric of the community since the Duke of Richmond opened it almost 67 years ago. It hosted around 120 race meetings until its formal closure in July 1966, but continued to be used for testing, sprints and other club events in the 32 years before Lord March - buoyed by the soaraway success of annual Festivals of Speed at Goodwood House, his family seat - brought racing back with the introduction of the Revival Meeting in September 1998.

The success of Goodwood's Festival of Speed paved the way for the circuit's new life © LAT

Despite its airfield having been operational throughout, perceived noise nuisance from its motor circuit alter-ego was very much in focus when I joined AUTOSPORT in 1977 (when the fashion was for everything from mowing lawns on a Sunday to flying radio-controlled aircraft on common ground to irk NIMBYs in every town).

Concerns have not gone away. Local folk were quick to express their annoyance and renew calls for CDC to close Goodwood down when the Revival meetings started, but the fact remains that measures were put in place to monitor noise and the number of weekend motorsport events there was slashed in recompense.

Now, the Goodwood Road Racing Club utilises its full planning permission for five days of unrestricted operation to stage the renowned Members' Meeting (two) in March and Revival Meeting in September (three) and organises a sprint for members on Easter Monday to a 105 decibel drive-by noise limit, all with MSA approval.

There are only a handful of circuit-hire sprints run to MSA regulations by the Brighton & Hove Motor Club, Bognor Regis MC, Tunbridge Wells MC and the Vintage Sports-Car Club - among track and test days on the 2015 calendar.

It is fair to say that there are far fewer noisy days now than when Formula 1, Formula 2 and Formula 3 teams pitched-up in my youth, indeed through the 1980s the circuit was used for car-club sprints or single-venue rallies most weekends of the summer.

If I wasn't at them, watching or (once) competing, my family was passing by en route to visit relations near Worthing. Almost unbelievably, I also recall a kart race meeting being run on a track laid out in the big car park between Chichester Festival Theatre and North Street.

So Goodwood is not shirking its neighbourhood responsibilities and, having guaranteed silent days in every summer month, and many out of season, can be seen to be playing its part in acknowledging the bigger picture.

Chichester - or 'Chi' as locals refer to it - and its environs will always hold the happiest of memories for me, having frequented the area for the past 40 years. I love the city, the magnificent cathedral around which it is built and its culture.

That heritage, on another level, has undoubtedly been enhanced by its proximity to the Goodwood estate, boasting one of Britain's finest stately homes, seat of the Dukes of Richmond & Gordon for more than 300 years. One of the country's great tourist attractions, the Palladian masterpiece is just one of the magnets that draw visitors from around the globe to this glorious little rural corner of England.

Apart from the pomp and majesty of bygone days, Goodwood's heritage has long had horse racing, aviation and motor racing at its core. To undermine the estate's very viability in an era when the diversity of its popular public activities, through the vision and prudent stewardship of Lord March and his employees, has seen it turn a corner towards solvency would be a disaster, not least for Chichester.

To lose the motor circuit for the sake of 300 houses would be a travesty.