Council refuses Uckfield homes development
Proposals for a housing development on the edge of Uckfield have been turned down.
In a decision notice published last week, Wealden District Council planning officers refused a Permission in Principle (PiP) application, which sought to demolish Cress Farm in Lewes Road and build six new homes.
As a PiP application is intended to allow applicants to establish whether a site would be suitable for development, without producing detailed technical designs.
Officers concluded the site would be unsuitable for six houses, saying it would be “clearly excessive for the size of the site”.
In a report, a council planning spokesman said: “The proposed development — by reason of the excessive quantum of housing proposed and the small size of the site, alongside the presence of a mains pipeline — would result in a cramped and contrived form of development that would in turn bring about significant adverse impacts on the amenities of both future occupiers … and existing occupiers to the south in Red Clover Road (by way of loss of outlook and privacy).
“The quantum of housing posed therefore represents overdevelopment of the site that cannot be resolved at the technical details stage and the proposal is ultimately considered to be poor design that would result in the loss of an important open gap in a tightly developed area that also fails to allow space for suitable landscaping, technical highways and parking requirements, heritage mitigation, water infrastructure or adequate garden provision.”
Officers said the site had an “adequate relationship to Uckfield’s services, facilities and opportunities for public transport and, as a result, it is a suitable location for new residential development.”
This view was shared by the council’s Strategic Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA), which considers the site to be “delieverable”.
The council’s reasons for refusal also included the scheme’s impact on the Ashdown Forest Special Protection Area, but officers also said this could have been overcome through conditions under different circumstances.
For further information on the plans see application reference WD/2026/0481/PIP on the Wealden District Council planning website.