Decision due on East Sussex homes bid

On Thursday (May 16), Wealden District Council’s Planning Committee South is due to consider outline proposals to build nine houses to the west of Ersham Road — on land adjacent to a property known as The Homestead.

While concerns have been raised by Hailsham Town Council , the scheme is being recommended for approval by the district council’s planning officers.

In a report set for consideration by the committee, a council planning spokesman said: “The site is outside the adopted development boundary for Hailsham but in an area where strategic housing developments have been approved and being constructed.

“The site is in an area that has been identified [as an] extension of Hailsham. The proposed development would be reasonably efficient use of land for new housing whilst respecting the density of older housing that fronts Ersham Road.

“The proposed layout is reasonable, albeit some further adjustments are appropriate in relation to building footprint relative to a tree, and adjustments to ensure vehicle manoeuvring, [both] matters that can be accommodated by the site area.”

Hailsham Town Council takes a different view, however, arguing the scheme should be limited to no more than five houses, as they consider a larger scheme to be an “overdevelopment of the site”.Similar concerns have also been raised by ward councillor Anne Blake-Coggins, who called the scheme in for consideration by the committee.

In a note explaining her reason to call-in the scheme, Cllr Blake-Coggins said: “Due to the number of houses planned I would like to call this in as I believe this number of houses (nine) would be overdevelopment of the site, and feel that a decrease to 5 /6 houses would be more acceptable.”

For further information about the proposals see application reference WD/2022/3145/O on the Wealden District Council website.