Another large Hailsham housing development approved

Proposals for another major housing development in Hailsham have been given the go ahead by Wealden planners.
Illustrative site layoutIllustrative site layout
Illustrative site layout

On Thursday (June 18), Wealden District Council’s planning committee south approved outline proposals from Anwyl Land to build up to 241 homes on a greenfield site to the west of Ersham Road.

The scheme is the latest in a long line of major housing developments to be approved in the immediate area, including the 400-home Cuckoo Fields development and a 167-home scheme on the site’s northern boundary.

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During the meeting several councillors reiterated well-rehearsed concerns around the ability of local infrastructure to cope with the scale of development in the area.

Those to raise concerns included Cllr Gavin Blake-Coggins (Lib Dem, Hailsham East), who said: “These things have to be in place long before these houses are occupied. 

“As I said in the last discussion [on houses in Hellingly] water and sewerage is a problem. Pollution is a problem. The green issue is a major problem.

“If it wasn’t for Hailsham there would be no housebuilding at all would there? Not in Wealden. 

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“Not as many thousands as we have put up with in Hailsham. Not by a long way.”

Councillors also raised concerns about the drainage and flooding in the area, as well as the ability of local road networks to cope with new residents.

Officers, however, said the development would be tied to conditions requiring improvements to infrastructure and drainage works to prevent flooding on the site.

Funding for these infrastructure improvements would be tied to the developments moving ahead, officers said.

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Other councillors were more resigned to the proposals going forward.

The Hailsham South ward is currently vacant, following the death of Cllr Chriss Triandafyllou in March, but committee chairman Susan Steadman spoke on the proposals as acting local member for planning matters. 

She said: “I have taken on board comments raised by local residents. Because this is a particularly uninhabited part of Ersham Road it is not surprising that there aren’t that many objections, most coming from the residents of Summerhill and Coldthorn Lane.

“But I think they sum up what we all agree is a problem facing rural Britain and rural Sussex in particular as they state, ‘the irreplaceable loss of green fields and countryside to the desperate need for more housing’.

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“I hope this is the last ingress into this rural part of Hailsham and that development does not creep closer to the Pevensey Levels.”

Following further discussion the scheme was approved on a majority vote of nine to three.

Councillors agreed to add an informative asking for developers to ensure the final scheme included measures to on environment and sustainability.

While contentious, the site had been allocated for housing in Wealden’s failed local plan, which was withdrawn by the council earlier this year. That plan named the site as Hailsham South 5.

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Together with developers behind the other major housing developments in the area – which total close to 800 homes – the housebuilder would be required to provide funding for infrastructure improvements to the area.

Known as the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), this funding is expected to fund a number of road improvements and other projects in the immediate area.

As an outline application, the committee only approved the principle of development on the site, with further details – including the final number of houses – to be dealt with at a later date.

The only details to be agreed fully were those of access, which will come from Ersham Road on the eastern boundary of the site.

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For further details on the application see reference WD/2019/2692/MAO on the Wealden District Council planning website.

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