Homes and commercial buildings at former Ringmer chicken farm approved by inspector

In a decision notice published on Wednesday (March 1), a planning inspector has approved an outline application to build commercial buildings and up to 53 houses at a former chicken farm in Uckfield Road.

The scheme had been refused (against officer advice) by Lewes District Council’s planning committee in April last year.

It was refused as councillors believed it was an unsustainable location and would be in conflict with Ringmer’s Neighbourhood Plan, which allocates the whole site an area for employment use.

Applicants, Cross Stone Regeneration Ltd, had claimed this was not possible, arguing that a purely commercial site would be financially unviable without housing to supplement the cost of construction.

This view was shared by the planning inspector, who said there was ‘no reasonable prospect’ of a better employment site coming forward.

In their decision notice, the inspector said: “I appreciate that the allocation seeks to deliver the entire site for employment uses.

“However, the viability evidence demonstrates that for the employment space to be delivered it needs to be cross subsidised by the housing and, in this case, by a fairly substantial number of dwellings across the site.

“In my judgement, there is no reasonable prospect of the site being developed entirely or to a greater extent for employment use than that proposed in the appeal scheme. “

They added: “For the reasons given above, material planning considerations, including that the scheme would constitute sustainable development in terms of the [National Planning Policy] Framework, clearly indicate that a decision should be made otherwise than in accordance with the development plan.”