Ringmer development of 70 homes on greenfield site is refused

On Wednesday (December 7), Lewes District Council’s planning committee considered a full planning application to build 70 houses on a greenfield site between The Broyle and Round House Road.

While recommended for approval, the committee felt the scheme’s design would be out-of-character with the surrounding area and be ‘unsustainable’ due to its likely dependency on private cars.

Proposing refusal, Cllr Richard Turner (Con) said: “What we’ve got here is an excellent development, but on totally the wrong site again. These houses would look brilliant on a brownfield site in Lewes, [but] they’ve got no village feel whatsoever.”

The committee’s concerns echoed those of local objectors, who also criticised the site for being outside of the village’s development boundary and for being contrary to the Ringmer Neighborhood Plan.

Many objectors had also criticised the overall level of development within Ringmer, arguing that the government’s housing targets were inappropriate and unachievable.

They also argued that the government’s recent update on planning reforms should be taken into account by the committee. This update, which came the day before the meeting, included a promise to consult on how housing targets are applied.

Part of the reason for officers recommending approval had been down to the district falling short of government housing targets. In this circumstance, national planning rules set out that there should be a ‘tilted balance’ in favour of development going ahead.

This had also been a key part of why another Ringmer housing scheme, the 100-home development at Broyle Gate Farm, was granted planning permission at appeal last month

But with changes to those rules are coming objectors argued the scheme may no longer be supportable.

This view was backed by ward councillor Johnny Denis (Green), who said: “You’ve heard that the national policy is changing. So actually, this shouldn’t be up before you tonight with the committee report you’ve got, because the committee report is redundant. It is out of date as of yesterday.”

The committee opted to refuse the scheme due to concerns around its impact on the character of the area, its reliance on the private car and on drainage and flooding grounds.