Cap on number of homes at Crowborough development site lifted

At a virtual meeting on Thursday (June 25), Wealden District Council’s planning committee north approved proposals to remove a condition from a previously-approved outline planning consent for the Walshes Road development. While developers had sought permission to build up to 100 homes, as a result of policies within the then submission Wealden Local Plan, the committee added a condition which limited the number of houses which could be built on the site to 85 instead. With the failure of the plan at examination and its withdrawal earlier this year, developers Catesby have asked for this restriction to be lifted. Ward councillor Phillip Lunn (Con, Crowborough South East) said: “I actually live right in the middle of all this development [in Crowborough] and I share a lot of the points made by objectors. “However, it is pointless repeating all of those objections today. I fully understand the position as described by our officers and given that all technical matters have all been raised [and] covered in the previous application and it isn’t correct we go through all of those again. “The original application was for up to 100 properties. I understand the reasons why this variation is now being sought. Even though I may have my own objections that is not an appropriate reason to try and block what is being proposed here.” Following a short discussion the committee agreed to remove the condition as sought by developers. The final number of houses would be decided as part of a reserved matters application at a later date. The number of affordable houses would also be set at this stage, although it would be expected to be larger than in an 85 home scheme. For more details see application reference WD/2020/0369/MFA on the Wealden District Council planning website. A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton: In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers. With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers. Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis. Stay safe, and best wishes.