Hundreds of objections have failed to stop a new estate of 80 homes on former farmland in Hailsham being given the go-ahead.
Heyford Developments’ outline plans to build up to 80 homes on land to the south of the A271 were approved by Wealden planners last Thursday.
Wealden District Council had received 222 letters of objection from local residents, most worried about the impact on Hook and Son, an agricultural business which had been using the land to graze its dairy herd until last year.
Before making its decision, the committee heard from Joe Hook, a representative for the business, who said: “We have farmed the land in question since 1998, converting it to organic status in 2001.
“We continued to farm the land until our grazing licence expired just over a year ago on 30 September 2023. The land has now lost its organic status.
“The application site is part of a 40-acre block of grassland we used to cut for silage, yielding around 250 tonnes of grass and forming approximately a quarter of our dairy herd’s winter feed.
“Our farm will struggle to survive without this land, in addition to the loss of the land at Longleys Farm. This year we have crowdfunded nearly £30,000 to help our cash flow and to buying grass and organic milk to try and maintain our production and to keep our 20 staff employed.
“Though we did survive this summer, we cannot crowdfund every year to cover these losses.
“It does seem wrong that there is such a proclivity in planning policy for developing organic land that produces food for local people, without any mitigation for the damage caused to our business as a result.”
Concerns around Hook and Son was also a key factor in another developer’s plans to develop nearby land to the rear of Battle Road, which the business had also leased until September last year.
Fernham Homes’s proposal for 180 homes there was refused by Wealden District Council in March, partly because of the loss of agricultural land and the impact on Hook and Son.
But a second application for 145 homes was approved in October, with committee members accepting that Hook and Son’s tenancy of the land had formally ceased, after the council sought legal advice.
Officers made a similar argument in connection with this application, arguing that the ceased tenancy meant a refusal based on the loss of agricultural land would be likely to be viewed as unreasonable if taken to appeal.
This argument did not sit well with some committee members, including Cllr Neil Cleaver who proposed the scheme should be refused. Councillors raised other concerns about the scheme as well, including its impact on highways, drainage and sewerage infrastructure.
Concerns had also been raised around the site’s proximity to the Hailsham North Wastewater Treatment Works and the potential for odour issues resulting from this.
But others disagreed with this view, pointing to the Battle Road scheme and other nearby developments as a factor in favour of approval.
Arguing this, Cllr Greg Collins (Green) said: “It seems to me that you hand a developer a slam dunk at appeal if there is a site next door to this one, which has all the constraints and all of the planning questions around it that this site has, which you have already granted planning permission to.
“I don’t believe there is anything materially different about this site to justify refusal.
“I have not heard reasons of sufficient weight to refuse this application. The national planning system puts us all in a barbed-wire-lined straight jacket. We might not like that, but we have to make decisions consistent with the national planning system.”
Ultimately, the committee agreed to grant planning permission in line with the officers’ recommendation. The decision was close, coming down to a casting vote from committee chairman Gavin Blake-Coggins after a tied vote.
As an outline scheme, details of the scheme will require further planning permission at a later date. Conditions attached to the outline planning permission require affordable housing, the creation of a play space and off-site highways works.
For further information on the proposals see application reference WD/2023/0290/MAO on the Wealden District Council website.
