Homes plan for prized town centre site

HOUSING plans for the grounds of Lewes House in the historic centre of the town will this month be unveiled by developers.

Four shortlisted schemes have been submitted for public inspection and one will later be chosen for the prestigious site.

The exhibition opens in Lewes House on School Hill, head-quarters of Lewes District Council, on October 17 and finishes on the following Saturday.

A council spokesman said views received during the exhibition would assist the authority in the selection of the preferred partner in the development, leading to a detailed planning application in the late spring of next year and a start later in the summer.

The four schemes on the drawing board are for between 45 and 65 houses and flats, 40 per cent of which will be affordable rented homes.

The remaining 60 per cent are for two and three-bedroomed homes for sale on the open market.

The development is relatively dense for the three acre site which is appropriate for the town centre.

There will be relatively few parking spaces.

Each of the four schemes shows homes designed around the proposed Lewes Library development which, sadly, has every chance of being shelved by the county council.

If the worst happens, the housing design will remain the same but the area where the library would have stood will contain other buildings such as offices, work space units or, in part, more homes.

There is also a chance that the site, fronting Friars Walk, could become an open space.