Fairlight development with zero affordable housing turned down

A housing development in Fairlight has been refused, after returning to Rother planners for a second hearing.
Aerial view of the development siteAerial view of the development site
Aerial view of the development site

On Thursday (July 16), Rother District Council’s planning committee considered proposals to build 16 houses at the former market garden site in Lower Waites Lane, which had come back due to the loss of affordable housing from a previously approved scheme.

While the previous version of the scheme had been approved, the committee opted to reject the proposals on the grounds it did not comply with current council planning policy.

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Arguing against the scheme,  Andrew Mier, Liberal Democrat ward councillor for Southern Rother, said: “Councillors may feel that the best course of action is for this application to be rejected, but for the developer to go back literally to the drawing board and come forward with a plan which is policy compliant.

“If the affordable element is still impossible at least we know where we stand and we will have a development we can be proud of.”

The scheme had previously been approved subject to legal agreement in March 2018, but returned to the committee as no agreement could be reached.

Among other details, the legal agreement would have required developer Gemselect Ltd to provide six affordable, shared-ownership homes as part of the wider development. 

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However, the developer later argued it would be unable to both provide these affordable homes and turn a profit on the scheme, making it unviable.

This view had been backed by an independent viability assessment and, as a result, planning officers had recommended the scheme be approved without affordable housing.

Since this previous application, however, Rother District Council has introduced new planning policies laying out minimum housing standards.

While the proposals met most of these requirements (or else thought to be able to meet them through further planning conditions) five of the houses’ gardens fell short of the minimum length set out in policy.  

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Although planning officers felt this shortfall was acceptable, committee members took a different view. 

John Barnes (Con, Burwash and the Weald) said: “I have to say I am rather with Cllr Mier on this one. 

“It seems to be that our views on what is minimum standards have changed. Although this meets it on the housing it doesn’t really meet it on other aspects and it most certainly doesn’t respect the overall density and design of the area.

“I think that if I was looking at this totally afresh I would be saying this is was an overdevelopment on this site.”

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Some other committee members saw things differently however, pointing out the site had been allocated for housing by the council’s own local plan.

Richard Thomas (Lib Dem, Bexhill St Stephens) said: “We have a stark choice here. The real choice is between this development, with all of its unsatisfactory aspects or no development at all. That is the dilemma the committee is going to have to face again and again. 

“As this site is scarcely viable with 16 houses on it, it is quite clear that if we reduce the number of houses or increase the size of the gardens, [then] it is not going to a viable site.

“Effectively, if we say no to this development, then we say no to any viable development by a private developer.”

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Ultimately the scheme was refused planning permission with 11 votes to three. 

It was rejected on the grounds it failed to meet planning policy in terms of the size of the gardens, have a negative impact on the character of the area and have a poor density of development. 

For further information see application reference RR/2017/457/P on the Rother District Council planning website.

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