Newick residents rally against a 250-house development which they say will ruin their historic rural village

Local residents are rallying to halt a proposed 250-house development which, they say, will turn their historic rural village into an anonymous urban town. Campaign group Save Newick Village was launched at the Newick Food Fair on Sunday (June 29) with more than 150 people pledging their support for the fight against the development on 85 acres of productive farmland and historic countryside.

They say it will increase the village population by a third and add 300 more cars to the chaos of the already over-congested road. The village has welcomed and supported several recent and ongoing developments, which are already adding 148 houses and around 450 extra people to Newick.

The Group urges residents, and others who use the village pubs, shops and facilities, to go to: www.savenewickvillage.com to find out how to find out to submit objections to Lewes District Council (LDC.)

Newick Parish Council has already submitted its objections to the proposal. Parish Chair Cllr Brian Hodge said: "The proposed development is totally unsustainable. There's up to a six-week waiting list at our GP surgery; local schools and colleges are turning pupils away and the scheme will add even more pollution and sewage into the nearby River Ouse.

"The site is on the edge of a flood plain and adjacent to a sewage works, which regularly dumps into the river. Residents would be car-dependent, causing more congestion and walking into the village on narrow or non-existent footpaths would be extremely hazardous.

"With starting prices at around £700,000 for houses at its other recently built sites, claims of 40 per cent affordable homes are laughable."

The site was put forward for potential development under the Land Availability Assessment (LAA.) Agents Parker Dann say the 2024 LAA report was prior to the publication of a new NPPF 2024. Those assessments were not carried out bearing in mind the increased emphasis on delivering the government's commitment to deliver 1.5m homes this parliament.

The agent says, to mitigate fears the character of Newick would change, the scheme would be designed to retain its 'rural feel.' The highest parts of the land would be free of dwellings and the site itself divided into four different neighbourhoods.