The proposal by Hallam Land Management is to build up to 280 new dwellings in countryside north of Mill Lane and west of Grove Hill.
The Shawpits Farm scheme, application number: WD/2026/1679/MAO, has been submitted to Wealden District Council, The consultation period ended earlier this month and drew more than 700 objections.
The countryside organisation said: 'This application is too large on a site that is really best kept as the setting for the existing listed buildings and the conservation area.'
The site was formerly deemed 'undevelopable and undeliverable' by Wealden District Council when it was first submitted under the original search for sites conducted as part of the preparation of the council's latest Local Plan.
Developers Hallam say the project, which would include affordable housing, was backed by technical studies on drainage, ecology, highways and landscape. It also notes that Wealden faces a shortage of appropriate available land to fully meet central government housing targets.
But residents and objectors from across the district say the local Cuckmere and Bull Rivers both flood extensively in winter. They are also concerned about a major strain on the sewage network, lack of school capacity and added pressure on already oversubscribed doctors' and dentists' surgeries. They say Mill Lane cannot be safely adapted to take more traffic.