Maplehurst Road, Chichester

Image: © John Fielding Taken: 6 Apr 2008

Maplehurst Road is the main road in an estate of detached houses developed in the 1970s about two miles to the north of the centre of Chichester. The estate is typical of its era - open plan, exclusively four-bedroom houses with double garages, a limited mix of building designs, pedestrian thoroughfares. An unusual feature is that several of the houses have no road frontage and can only be accessed by footpaths. The houses have large windows (the building regulations at the time stressed the health benefit of good natural lighting rather than energy conservation). Although double glazed windows were provided, they were designed to reduce noise (from the nearby Goodwood airfield and motor racing circuit) rather than heat loss. Most houses now have more energy efficient PVC replacement windows. Variety in their styles helps to reduce monotony in the appearance of the whole estate. Wooden roof facias have also been largely replaced by plastic ones. Only a few of the houses have any original external wooden fixtures, which were prone to wet rot. It would be unusual to specify pedestrian thoroughfares in the layout of a housing estate today. They are considered to be a potential hazard to personal security (a "muggers' paradise"). However, the very limited number of houses with intruder alarms suggests that crime is not a major issue for the residents of Maplehurst Road. It snows occasionally in Chichester - even in April.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0