Revised 26-home Bexhill development given thumbs up

Amended proposals for a housing development in Bexhill have been given the go ahead by Rother planners. 
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On Thursday (April 15), Rother District Council’s planning committee approved an application to build 26 homes on land surrounding a property known as Moleynes Mead in Ellerslie Lane.

The site had been granted outline planning permission for 24 homes in 2018, but had since changed hands to a new developer, Paramount Land and Development, which sought an amended design.

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While the proposals had been recommended for approval by officers, the scheme had seen some significant opposition from residents, particularly around its impact on local highways and its proposed design and density.

Some of these concerns were voiced by ward councillor Richard Thomas (Lib Dem), who said: “I have discovered that the residents of Fryatts Way are very, very unhappy with the application and I intend simply to say that I am aware of these considerations and want to enforce them.

“There is a concern about overlooking, there is a concern that the houses are excessively high, there is a concern over the road access, there is a concern over the ecological site.”

Cllr Thomas also raised his own concerns surrounding whether an appropriate assessment had been carried out on the site’s drainage impact on the Pevensey Levels. 

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He argued this was an essential measure which should take place before a decision be made. However, officers disagreed with this assessment, also pointing out that no objections had been raised by the lead local flood authority.

Committee members raised concerns about other elements of the scheme as well, including the lack of electric car charging stations.

Despite concerns, the committee did not consider there were sufficient grounds for refusing planning permission for the amended scheme, especially as the site features in the council’s Development and Site Allocations (DaSA) Local Plan.

Cllr John Barnes (Con) said: “We are always going to get to this problem when we get to the kind of development we want.

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“I personally favour a mixed type of development rather than all bungalows, I have to say. It seems to me that you are catering more for the needs of the community. 

“Although I want some quite strict conditions put in on this, I can’t really see that we can go against the DaSA policy designating this for local housing. We have a viable application which I suspect, if we were to turn it down, would succeed on appeal.”

The developer has permission to build eight four-bed, two storey homes, four two-bed, two storey homes and two three-bedroom bungalows. There will also be two maisonettes with one and two beds respectively. Eight of the homes would be classified as affordable housing.  

For further information on the proposals see application reference RR/2020/565/P on the Rother District Council website.

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