College homes go ahead

Members of Wealden Council's development control sub-committee, north, heard last week that the number of homes planned was the minimum needed to enable restoration of the Grade II listed building which was last used as a school but was initially an orphanage.

They gave officers the authority to issue planning permission subject to various details being resolved and a legal agreement, laying out conditions for the permission, being drawn up.

A report to councillors described the site as being 'important' and 'sensitive' in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It said previous applications proposing a total 52 homes on the site were refused.

They were for eight apartments in the main building, one in the chapel, 33 new apartments in two three-storey blocks with basement parking underneath for 72 cars, eight new houses in a courtyard form within the woodland area and extensions and alterations to the Gate Lodge and St Michaels to form two large detached houses.

The latest plan was for nine apartments in the college and chapel, refurbishment and extension of the former sanatorium, demolition of Lodge House, headmaster's house, staff bungalows, west wing, Bradley House and former college buildings and replacing them with enabling development of 20 apartments and 14 houses.

Councillors were told that old photographs dating from 1900 showed the original Pugin orphanage, chapel and sanatorium buildings and the plan included proposals to restore the spire to its original 1865 design, replace original finials and stone-capped gables and reconstruct 24 lancet dormer windows, albeit at a higher level on the roof slopes to provide light into the top floor of accommodation.

The latest plan was described by the Mayfield and Five Ashes Parish Council as 'having the merit of a significantly reduced impact on the environment' and the Mayfield and Five Ashes Society agreed it was an improvement on previous plans but still found the apartment blocks unsatisfactory.

The Mayfield Environment Group opposed the development. Reasons included the site being outside the development area, within the High Weald ANOB, in the middle of ancient woodland, with a nearby badger sett and large rookery owls nesting in the immediate vicinity. They were also concerned about traffic hazards and it being an undesirable precedent for other farmland.

But while the previous proposals generated one petition of 178 signatures, another with an additional 20 signatures and 21 letters of objections only 11 letters of objection were received in relation to the latest plans.