Councillors approve Cuckoo Trail cafe plans

On Thursday (January 9), Wealden District Council’s Planning Committee South approved proposals to build a brick cafe kiosk and two public toilets on the platform of the former Horam Railway Station.

The development, proposed by the council itself, forms part of several improvement projects planned for the eleven-mile stretch of the trail between Polegate and Heathfield, for which the council has secured government funding.

While the scheme was approved, committee members added several conditions surrounding the building’s design. These came in response to concerns raised by Horam Parish Council around the potential for vandalism at the relatively remote location.

The parish council had asked for the building to be designed with steel shutters in mind, so it could be secured when not in use. Committee members shared this view, so opted to make integration of shutters a condition of planning permission.

The committee also opted to limit the cafe kiosk’s hours of operation to “daylight hours”, in recognition of a nearby retirement accommodation known as Cherry Tree Court.

With these conditions in place, the committee granted planning permission for the development to move ahead.

The committee opted not to address another concern raised by the parish council around the number of toilets on the site. The parish council had requested that only one toilet be built on site, which they argued should only be accessible from inside the building.

Committee members disagreed with this view, saying a larger number of publicly-accessible toilets would be more desirable.

For further information see application reference WD/2024/2468/DC on the Wealden District Council website.