Ringmer home could be replaced with seven new houses

In an application to Lewes District Council, a developer is seeking outline permission to build seven new houses in place of a large detached home and garden, known as Lionville, in Tile Kiln.

The applicant says the scheme would make the most of the building’s large plot, which they argue stands as an oddity in an otherwise developed area.

In a design and access statement, a spokesman for the applicant said: “Over a period of approximately 50 years, the setting of Lionville has substantially changed from a semi-rural edge of village setting where replacement and additional development has taken place and effectively surrounded it.

“The Tile Kiln development to the south was completed in the mid-1990s and abuts the southern boundary of Lionville. 

“The land to the north and west of Lionville known as Potters Field is currently under development with a scheme of 110 houses. The area north and west of the site is currently under development with the construction of 10 dwellings, as approved under LW16/0704. 

“Therefore, Lionville is now effectively surrounded by medium density housing development and it would follow that this unusually large plot could be made more effective use of to provide a modest amount of additional development, accessed from Tile Kiln.”

As an outline proposal, at this point the application is only seeking in-principle permission to demolish the existing building and to build up to seven houses in its place, rather than putting forward a detailed scheme.

However, it includes an illustrative layout for the eventual scheme with three two-bedroom and four three-bedroom houses.

This illustrative layout also gives each of the houses their own off-street car parking spaces and cycle storage.

Access would be through Tile Kiln via Bishops Lane.

For further details of the proposals see application reference LW/20/0733 on the Lewes District Council website.