Just one new home built in Rye last year

Just 186 net additional dwellings were added, down from 283 built in 2016/17, with both below the annual target of 335 dwellings per annum set in Rother District Council’s core strategy.

According to the council’s local plan monitoring report the recession and related uncertainties about jobs and interest rates as well as tighter mortgage requirements have been major factors in delaying housing developments coming forward.

It lists delays in the completion of the Bexhill to Hastings Link Road as another constraint to the delivery of development within Bexhill.

The document suggests that while the rate of growth will depend on wider economic signals ‘an upward development trend is envisaged as shown by applications’.

In 2017/18 there were five net housing completions in Battle and just one in Rye. This is up from four in Battle and down from 28 in Rye in 2016/17.

Since 2011 there have been 30 net housing completions in Battle and 227 in Rye.

Meanwhile in Bexhill there were 84 net completions in 2017/18, down from 131 in 2016/17.

While the number of affordable homes built in Rother overall was down, the number of completions in rural areas was up.

In 2017/18 there were 66 gross affordable housing completions, down from 104 in 2016/17.

But in rural areas completions were up from 21 to 45.

The number of long-term empty homes has fallen from 434 in 2016 to 425 in 2017.

More up to date figures from the council on housing land supply in October 2018 show that there were 118 net completions across Rother between April and October last year.