Controversial proposals for housing development to go in front of planners

On Wednesday (January 17), Lewes District Council’s planning committee is set to consider an application to build six houses on land in Slugwash Lane — a site which was previously refused planning permission for an 11-home scheme.

While recommended for approval, the proposals have generated a significant amount of opposition, with the council receiving 83 letters of objection from local residents.

Objections have also been raised by Wivelsfield Parish Council. In its response to the scheme, a spokesman for the parish council said: “The proposal offers few houses which would come at considerable cost to the community and countryside and conflict individually and collectively with the Localism Act, National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), Neighbourhood Plan, Joint Core Strategy, Land Capability Act, and the opinions and advice of professional planning and development specialists.

“The benefits of development in this site are therefore significantly outweighed by the adverse effects measured against policies and the application should be rejected.”

The spokesman goes on to argue that the scheme would be of an ‘unsympathetic’ design, in a ‘unsustainable’ location and add to existing infrastructure pressures. Similar concerns have been raised by individual objectors.

Concerns have also been raised about the site’s location (as it falls outside of the village’s development boundary) and the impact of construction on the character of Slugwash Lane as a route for walkers and cyclists.

These concerns are not shared by council planning officers, however, who say the scheme is acceptable.

In a report to the committee, a Lewes planning spokesman said: “It is considered that the proposed development is appropriate for the transition site that it would occupy, maintaining a semi-rural character, integrating with the neighbouring built environment to the south rather than intruding into the wider open countryside to the north and west.

“Whilst there would be some harm caused to the setting of Slugwash Lane as a result of the provision of a new footway into Wivelsfied Green it is considered that this would be offset by the safety and sustainability benefits of the footpath as well as the wider benefits of the proposed development.”

For further information on the proposals see application reference LW/23/0532 on the Lewes District Council website.