Decision due on redevelopment plans at Bexhill bowls club site

On Thursday (April 14), Rother District Council’s planning committee are due to consider an application to build eight two-bedroom houses at the Gulliver’s Bowls Club, in Knole Road.

If approved, as is recommended by officers, the scheme would also see the construction of a new club house building and the refurbishment of an indoor bowls rink on the site. 

In a report to be considered by the committee, a Rother planning officer said: “The site resides within Bexhill Development Boundary and is allocated for residential development under [policy] BEX5 of the Development and Site Allocations Local Plan (DaSA). 

“The proposal is considered to satisfy the requirements of Policy BEX5, is of an acceptable scale and design for the site, proximity to listed buildings and adjacent conservation area and would have an acceptable impact upon neighbouring amenity, the highways and drainage network. 

“A good standard of residential accommodation has been provided. No objection is raised in respect of arboriculture or ecology matters. The application is therefore recommended for approval, subject to the imposition of conditions.”

While recommended for approval by planning officers, the proposals have seen objections raised by Bexhill Town Council and a number of local residents. These objections cover a range of issues, including fears around the loss of amenity space.

Despite this a similar number of residents have written in support of the proposals, arguing it would preserve the future of the bowls club as a community asset. 

The site itself has a complex planning history, having been subject to a series of controversial applications for more than 15 years. 

The first of these applications came forward in 2006, in which another group of developers had sought permission to build a block of 41 sheltered apartments on the front of the site. This application would also have seen improvements made to the bowls club’s facilities. 

This scheme was refused by planners, but was later given planning permission at appeal. However, this appeal decision was later overturned following a high court action. This process was eventually resolved in 2013.

After this the developer put in a similar scheme, this time seeking permission to build 39 sheltered apartments on the same site. This application was based on the previous scheme, but sought to overcome the previous reasons for refusal with an improved design.

This application was initially approved by council planners (in 2014), but this decision was quashed as a result of a judicial review in 2016, which successfully argued that an officer report on the proposals had been misleading.

After this, the original developer had requested the scheme be reconsidered, but these proposals were withdrawn in 2019. 

These latest proposals come from a new group of developers, Court Developments Ltd, which were not involved in the previous applications. They first became involved in the site in 2020, taking pre-application advice for an alternative development of the site.

For further information on the proposals see application reference RR/2021/1455/P on the Rother District Council website.