Application to convert former Newhaven waste recycling site into electric vehicle charging depot with 16 parking spaces

The application follows the council’s recent announcement that food waste will not be deposited and transferred at the Lewes Road site.

There was a public outcry after planning approval for a food waste transfer site was granted on April 17, which led to the council pausing the planning process and eventually scrapping the plans.

The new application is to change the site’s use into a vehicle storage and EV charging depot, which includes creating 16 parking spaces for electric vehicles with individual EV chargers on existing hard standing. It also includes: a shipping container for wheelie bin storage, a bicycle shed and new electrical installations, the replacement of the boundary fence, the creation of a footpath to the southern side of the entrance road and additional soft landscaping. See the application at www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/article/1797/Search-and-view-planning-applications using reference LW/24/0689.

The design and access statement by Mackellar Schwerdt Architects said: “The proposal requires the provision of a new electrical substation, providing adequate power to charge 16 electric vehicles. A new sub-station and Low Voltage Cabinet is required to safely interface the power supply to new vehicle charging units.”

It also proposed installing photovoltaics on the roof of the wheelie bin container to help charge EVs.

Documentary explores meaning of Lewes Bonfire Night

The statement called the site ‘inherently sustainably located’ because it is close to the urban area of Newhaven and the main Robinson Road Depot site. It said: “This will provide much-needed expansion for an enlarged fleet of electric vehicles. The site has good onward road connections to other local habitations that the fleet of electric vehicles stored here will serve.”

It said the site’s use as a household waste recycling site would have seen ‘considerable numbers of daily vehicle movements from cars, vans and large skip collection vehicles’ with possible queuing on the highway. But it said the new plan will result in ‘far fewer vehicle movements’.

The statement clarified that this proposal does not have any food-waste transfer element. But it said: “There is a minimal risk that the proposed use could cause odours from the vehicles collecting food waste. The contents of the food waste collection will be deposited at another waste transfer site at the end of each round with the cleaning of the Food Waste Vehicle fleet being carried out at the Robinson Road site. As such, odours from vehicles are minimised. No food waste will be stored at all, anywhere on the Lewes Road site.”

It added that the site is surrounded by open countryside, saying: “The overriding principle of this proposal is for the scheme to sit sympathetically within its context.”

The statement said: “When considering the wider amenity, sound, visual and any smell (nuisances) impact of the site, the proposed development does not harmfully impact the surroundings. The introduction of soft landscaping and natural visual/acoustic screening in conjunction with the existing mature, dense planting shield adjacent residents from the site.”

It concluded: “We believe the proposal capitalises on the re-use of a brownfield site with minimal intervention, providing a safe and secure facility for the use and storage of an all-electric fleet of vehicles and onsite storage of new wheelie bins.”