Plan for potential 500 new Bexhill homes a 'disaster zone waiting to happen', says councillor
A Bexhill town councillor claims proposals to allocate land in an area of town for a potential 500 new homes is a 'disaster zone waiting to happen'.
Cllr Paul Wilson raised his concerns at a town council meeting.
Councillors were discussing Rother District Council's Local Plan, which sets out where new homes, businesses, and shops can be built between now and 2042.
Cllr Wilson, who represents Collington ward, said: “I'm still astonished that one particular site is still in the draft Local Plan, which is the nearly 500 houses on and around the back of Chestnut Meadow in Ninfield Road.
“When that was launched in the first Local Plan, not the Regulation 19 stage of the consultation but in the draft, there was uproar.
“There were groups of people getting MPs up there, getting everybody along to explain that you cannot put 500 houses and a school onto a road that doesn't at the moment have any cats eyes in the middle of it.
“Everybody accepted that and they've left it in the Local Plan. It is absolutely astonishing that they're relying upon Peartree Lane and St Mary's Lane to back up Ninfield Road. It is a congestion and a disaster zone waiting to happen.
“North Bexhill is being used as one of the two expansion routes and the other one is West Bexhill.
“There is nowhere else that we can expand and it is unfair to the residents who live in that area.”
Cllr Wilson said that building up to 500 homes would link Thorne Crescent directly into the back of Sidley, swelling the area's population to around 3,900 residents.
He said: “It is not an acceptable quantity. The roads won't cope with it.”
Cllr Wilson added that Chestnut Meadow is near the Sidley stream, which links down to Egerton Park and the Polegrove.
He said: “There's work being done in the Polegrove and Egerton Park to prevent future flooding and all the building in North Bexhill is just going to make that even worse.”
Regulation 19 is the final formal stage of public feedback before a council submits its Local Plan to the Government for independent examination.
The current version of the plan for land west of Ninfield Road, is for an allocation of 400 homes, alongside a retail and community building.
Land at St Francis Farm, in Potman's Lane, has been allocated for 70 houses under the plan.
Cllr Paul Plim, who represents Central ward, said: “I honestly think that somebody from county or district, or whatever unitary authority or mayoral authority exists has got to bite the bullet and say, 'right, if you want these houses you've got to build the road structure to support it'.
“You can't expect Peartree Lane, Turkey Road and St Mary's Lane to support the amount of houses that are going in there. It's a horrible thing to consider but if those houses are going in, those roads have got to be widened and nobody's brave enough to say it. But you need the infrastructure to support that.”
The district council is currently holding a public consultation on its plan, which ends on November 24.