Planners approve next steps of Hailsham housing scheme

On Thursday (January 11), Wealden District Council’s Planning Committee South considered a reserved matters application connected with plans to build 241 new homes on land to the west of Ersham Road.

The development secured outline planning permission in 2020, meaning it had already been agreed in principle, with committee members only considering the details of the final scheme.

While approved, committee members had some concerns around these details.

Setting out his concerns about the materials and design, committee chairman Gavin Blake-Coggins (Lib Dem) said: “I am vehemently oppose rendering of this nature, because within a very, very short period of time it stains badly. It looks green and horrible, you get brown streaks down it.

“There are other ways of weather-proofing a building other than a render and, as far as I’m concerned, that needs to be looked at.”

After these concerns were raised, officers noted how the developers had offered a condition to remove the rendering in hopes of avoiding a deferral.

Notably, the application marked the second time developers had sought to sign off on the details of the scheme (known as the reserved matters). The earlier application, which was ultimately withdrawn, had been deferred by a previous planning committee due to unresolved flooding issues.

These unresolved issues included flooding hazards on the site which could pose a ‘risk to life of children’ in some circumstances, due to the location of a designated play area.

While East Sussex County Council (as lead local flood authority) had initially not objected to this situation, the authority changed its position after councillors opted defer the scheme. Following this, the developer withdrew their application.

During discussion of the latest scheme, councillors sought to ensure the flooding issues had now been resolved.In response, officers told committee members about the challenges posed by the site’s topography. As a result, the drainage plans included potential flooding of the highways, but said this would only be shallow water for short periods of time in the most extreme of weather conditions.

Despite some lingering concerns, the committee felt the scheme was acceptable and granted planning permission after further discussion.

For more information about the scheme, see application reference WD/2023/1924/MRM on the Wealden District Council website.