Plan to convert rural East Sussex hotel into shared housing approved

In a decision notice, a planning inspector has granted permission to convert part of the Crockstead Farm Hotel, near Halland, into a Home in Multiple Occupation (HMO).

According to documents submitted as part of the application, the hotel had closed its doors in March 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The application proposed to convert 12 former hotel rooms into HMO accommodation. These rooms, described as ensuite bedrooms, would share a utility room and kitchen.

The majority of these conversion work, which did not involve external alterations to the building, had already taken place prior to submission of the application.

Wealden District Council had refused the proposals in April last year, with officers concluding the hotel was an “inappropriate location” for such housing due to its relatively remote nature.

In a report at the time, a council planning spokesman said: “The application site occupies a remote location outside a development boundary where new housing is resisted and where there is very limited access to local and day-to-day services other than by private car.

“The future occupiers would likely be low income and therefore this further compounds the lack of access to suitable alternative means of transport. The provision of such accommodation in such an inappropriate location would not significantly or demonstrably outweigh this harm.

“The site does not therefore constitute a sustainable location for housing contrary to [planning policies].”

The planning inspector took a different view, however, judging the benefits of additional housing to outweigh the downsides of the scheme.

In their decision notice, the inspector said: “Whilst the [National Planning Policy] Framework acknowledges that rural locations will be more heavily reliant on the use of a car, the general thrust is to minimise such journeys where possible.

“However, in this case, given that the number of occupants would be limited to 12 people and the overall journeys to and from the site is unlikely to be significantly different from the hotel use, the harm arising would be restricted.”

They added: “Overall, in this particular case, the adverse impacts associated with the site’s location do not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in the Framework taken as a whole.

“The proposal therefore benefits from the presumption in favour of sustainable development, and this indicates that permission should be granted.”

For further information on the proposals see application reference WD/2024/0204/FR on the Wealden District Council planning portal.