Councillors refuse Heathfield housing scheme

On Thursday (January 9), Wealden District Council’s Planning Committee South once again considered outline proposals to build up to 24 homes on land associated with Snatchells Farm to the north of the A265.

The scheme had last been in front of the committee in December, with councillors at the time concluding they did not have adequate information to make a decision as several statutory consultees had not yet responded to the application.

While not all of these consultees had responded between the two meetings, council officers said there was sufficient evidence to approve the scheme as long as suitable conditions were put in place.

However, committee members argued the scheme would have an unacceptable impact on the character and appearance of the High Weald National Landscape.

Cllr Kevin Benton (Ind), who seconded the motion to refuse the scheme, said: “What we have here is a site which is outside of the development boundary. It is backland development when anything around there is ribbon and the density of it is such that it doesn’t fit within the characterisation of the area.”

While the committee as a whole supported a refusal on these grounds, officers warned it would be unlikely to hold up at appeal. In coming to this view, officers acknowledged that the development would cause “limited” harm to the High Weald, but said this would be outweighed by its benefits.

During the meeting, the committee also spent some time discussing anecdotal evidence that large quantities of DDT — a toxic pesticide developed in the 1940s — had been buried on the site after the Second World War.

Officers had said this concern could have been dealt with through conditions, which would have required the developer to carry out contamination investigations and take remediation action if any contamination was found.

As an outline scheme, the developer had only been seeking in-principle approval at this stage, which meant all matters other than access would have had to be determined at a later stage of the planning process. Access would have been achieved by altering the existing entrance to the site and adding a new set of traffic lights to the existing junction.

For further information see application reference WD/2024/2258/MAO on the Wealden District Council website.