Sussex village which inspired Camberwick Green hit by huge housing development

Villagers have been left stunned by the prospect of multiple housing developments in the fields of Wivelsfield Green, thought to be the real life basis for the 1970s family favourite.

Puppeteer Gordon Murray is believed to have set the first part of his Trumptonshire Trilogy in the sleepy Sussex hamlet, where up to 350 new homes could soon be built across a number of sites.

It’s feared the influx of new development – which comes at a time when Labour is pushing to build 1.5 million new homes – will change the character of the area, which is still recognisable from when the BBC hit first aired.

Villager Angus Thwaites, 54, said: “This would turn Trumptonshire into a concrete jungle. It’s supposed to be Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb, not bulldozer, digger, crane.

“These plans would have Windy Miller turning in his grave.”

Murray, the creator of Camberwick Green, the first in the trilogy which also includes Trumpton and Chigley, kept his inspiration a secret fearing the area would be inundated with tourists.

However, he admitted that Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley represent real locations which are one-and-a-half miles apart in an equidistant triangle. Fans say this clue points to the villages of Wivelsfield Green, Plumpton Green and Chailey.

Plans to build new homes in the area echo a Spitting Image sketch from 1986 called “Camberwell Greenbelt” where a bulldozer tears through the village to make way for redevelopment.

Katy Downtown, 48, said: “The historic village of Wivelsfield Green is emblematic of life in the English countryside and was the inspiration for Camberwick Green.

“There’s no need to bulldoze the ancient landscape and lose this part of our cultural heritage. It’s used by cyclists, walkers and horse riders alike for its beautiful country roads and countryside.

“More houses and traffic will destroy this oasis and we will quickly lose the cultural heritage of yet another Sussex village.”

Wiveslfield Green has already grown in size over recent years – in 2016 there were 360 houses in the village with 290 added since then.

Now there are 170 more homes being proposed by Taylor Wimpey on land between the village green and surrounding woodlands.

There are already 45 houses being built at South Road and 96 at Ditchling Road – and with a further 130 homes being proposed in the north of the parish by Catesby Estates, campaigners are saying “enough is enough”.

They say the developments would represent a 225 percent growth over the past eight years, putting additional pressure on infrastructure with the local primary school full, GPs at capacity and traffic going up 980 percent over the past decade.

Sally Bugden, 66, said: “Our extensive research has uncovered a lack of school places and health care provision, which is very worrying and will result in communities of deprivation.

“People who move here in the future will not be able to gain even the most basic of service provision and they and their families will suffer accordingly”.

Lewes District Council, does not currently have an up-to-date Local Plan, the document which sets out where new homes should be built – which campaigners claim is opening the village up to speculative applications from developers.

They say the village has grown faster than any other within the district and has already contributed more than its fair share to the local authority’s housing stock.

Richard Morris from the NoWivlesTown campaign group said: “Village communities put incredible effort into generating Neighbourhood Plans which are being tossed aside by these new planning proposals.

“These attacks on rural Britain are a catastrophe for democracy and a disaster for the environment, and will lead to broken villages helping neither residents or people looking for homes.

“People in the countryside outraged by this ill thought out urbanisation will never forgive the government for this. “

Taylor Wimpey in a statement said: "We believe we have presented a positive proposal to the local community, which will deliver publicly accessible open space on land that the Wivelsfield neighbourhood plan has identified as key to retaining open views to the south of Green Road.

"This land remains under private ownership and is inaccessible to the public. Our proposals would see the land, amounting to some 70 percent of our site, secured in perpetuity as public open space for members of the local community to enjoy.

"We were pleased to receive such strong support for the proposed public open space offer in our recent public consultation, with two-thirds of respondents in agreement.

"Our proposal is to only build on the land to the west of the neighbourhood plan's local green space allocation, totalling up to 150 homes."

To view the plans: planningpa.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=externalDocuments&keyVal=SP05NWJDHEN00&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2PfefgC10-ra0zPmm5CE7-wL0tvXXCNufACv8avKNbAT_krlnBCHi6JZ4_aem_XBDj6Ipo8zLCG5aclEuVjA