Planners refuse major Bexhill housing development over concerns about the impact of brickworks

On Thursday (December 14), Rother District Council’s planning committee refused proposals to build 89 homes on land to the north of Turkey Road — a site adjacent to the Ibstock Brickworks.

Committee members refused the scheme on the grounds that dust and pollution from the brickworks would have an unacceptable impact on anyone moving into the new houses and mitigations could endanger the sustainability of the existing business.

While this was the main reason for refusal, committee members had raised a wide range of other concerns about the scheme. These concerns, which included the loss of greenfield land and flooding, were not judged to be defensible reasons for refusal.

But not all of the committee shared these concerns about the development.

Among those to speak in support of the scheme was Cllr Christine Bayliss (Lab). She said: “Yesterday I visited somebody on our housing waiting list who is on Band C [and] basically living in a shoebox in our town. Every week we are dealing with people who are in need of housing and I am afraid that has to outweigh the issues around protecting wildlife.”

She added: “I would be very interested if anybody could tell me what the implications would be of our refusal and the fact that Bellway Homes would probably go to appeal and what that would cost. We would lose the New Homes Bonus, which is … roughly three-quarters of a million pounds.

“I put people first and [with] 27 units of affordable housing, I just cannot say no.”

The scheme, from developer Bellway Homes, had also recommended for approval by council planning officers, who said the adverse impacts of the scheme would not significantly and demonstrably outweigh its benefits.

Ultimately, however, the committee voted against officer advice and refused the application.

For further information on the proposals see application reference RR/2022/2131/P on the Rother District Council website.