Council loses appeal over 108-home Polegate development

In a decision published last week, a planning inspector has overturned Wealden District Council’s refusal of an application connected with plans to build up to 108 houses on land at Shepham Lane.

Development of the site was granted outline planning permission back in March 2020. In granting permission, the council put in place conditions requiring that ‘not less than 35 per cent’ of the houses to be built were classed as affordable homes.

In August 2022, Orbit Homes submitted plans to make all 108 of these homes ‘affordable’ — 65 would have been shared ownership properties and 43 would have been affordable rented units.

However, this proposal was refused by Wealden District Council, which argued a 100 per cent affordable scheme would not provide enough money for the highway and bus service improvements it considered necessary to offset the development’s impacts.

However, this view was not shared by the planning inspector who said the benefits of the affordable homes would “far outweigh” this downside.

Moreover, the inspector also concluded that the council had acted “unreasonably” by reaching its decision as neither the wording of the condition or the original planning permission allowed it to take the stance it did.

The inspector said: “It is abundantly clear that the submitted details should have been approved in the first instance and development that should clearly have been permitted has been prevented and delayed.

“This unreasonable behaviour on the part of the council has resulted in the need for the appellant to lodge an appeal that should not have been necessary.

“The appellant has incurred unnecessary expense in doing so. As a result, a full award of costs against the council is justified.”

Development of the site is now further along than it was in 2022.

Notably, Orbit Homes submitted a reserved matters application for development of the site in January this year.

For further information on the scheme see application reference WD/2023/0271/MRM on the Wealden District Council website.