Major agro-industrial site in the beautiful South Downs near Lewes - decision to be made on 11th June!

Beautiful landscape under threat! More heavy traffic likely on the C7 minor road though Lewes, Newhaven and the villages of Kingston, Swanborough, Iford, Northease Rodmell, Southease and Piddinghoe........

At the beginning of May the National Park tabled a recommendation to give permission for a major agro-industrial development site in the lower Ouse valley south of Lewes, just off the infamous C7 road. Thanks to the hundreds of people who wrote in and opposed the development the planning recommendation was deferred until the June meeting of the National Park. Sadly the National Park recommendation is unchanged - to give approval for this massive development. 

The planning officers intend to table a recommendation to give approval for the development at the meeting on Thursday 11 June. The agenda for this meeting will be published in a few days time - probably Thursday 4th.  

This 'stay of execution' give a little more time to write in: planning@southdowns.gov.uk. Please put the case number at the top of your email. To review the application documents go to:  

https://planningpublicaccess.southdowns.gov.uk/online-applications/  and input the case no:  SDNP/19/03768/FUL 

As time is short you may also wish to write to the committee members. The members are listed HERE  You can find their email addresses HERE. 

The National Park website doesn't say whether or not the meeting will be via video conferencing or whether it will be held in their large conference room with members spaced 2m apart. 

Public speaking: Pre-registration will be required if you wish to speak at the meeting. The Park doesn't tell you if you will have to travel the 45 miles to Midhurst to make your representations or If you will be allowed to speak via videoconferencing. 

The National Park says "Anyone wishing to speak at the meeting should register their request, using the Registration Form, no later than 12 noon on the Monday before the meeting. Further information on public speaking and registering as a speaker."  If you have any queries regarding this please contact   committee.officer@southdowns.gov.uk

PLEASE SHARE this update!

Earlier in May information about this major development was published on the Sussex Campaign website. 

Shooting Lodge on the South Downs - Planning Hearing

As the Lewes District Council did not advertise the upcoming public hearing I have written to residents in my ward alerting (see below).  

What does it concern? It relates to the operation of a shooting lodge on a 6 day a week basis in the season which is associated with game shooting on the South Downs. Where is it? Here is a map of the area:

Lodge is shown with a red circle. Footpaths & South Downs Way in green. Public Right of Access to Open Access Land shaded in yellow. Click image for larger map. © Crown Copyright 2015. Extract from OS Map OL11

For more information on the planning application see links below. For related information click on these headings:

Attending a public hearing 

Further reading

-------

Dear Residents,

Last year a planning application was submitted to extend the use of a building on the South Downs as a ‘shooting lodge’ to host shooting parties throughout the shooting season on a six-day a week basis. The current situation is that the applicant has appealed. As a result there will be a public hearing on Tuesday 25^th August.

Lodge is shown with a red dot adjacent to the Kingston & Iford Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest

Details of this appeal are: 

Application Number: SDNP/14/05468/CND

Application Summary: Variation of condition 1 attached to planning approval LW/09/1177 to vary the use of the building as a facility connected to game shooting and agriculture, the use shall only occur between Monday to Saturday 7am-5pm

The hearing into this appeal will start at 10:00 on 25 August 2015.

The venue for the hearing is: The Stanley Turner Ground, Kingston Road, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 3NB

To see the documents go to: http://planningpublicaccess.southdowns.gov.uk/online-applications/

Then put in the application number: SDNP/14/05468/CND    Here you will see the inspector’s letter and all the application documents.    

To write to the inspector use one or all of these emails:

teamp13@pins.gsi.gov.uk  or cassandra.low@pins.gsi.gov.uk or enquiries@pins.gsi.gov.uk

or go via: www.planningportal.gov.uk/planninginspectorate

It is important to quote ref: APP/Y9507/W/15/3002162

A number of people have asked me about the procedure relating to planning hearings. I have been in touch with the Planning Inspectorate and here is their answer:

“Anyone is entitled to attend a hearing without prior notification.  The Inspector will conduct the hearing and all procedural matters will be under the guidance of the Inspector after he or she has formally opened the proceedings.  If you wish to submit representations before the hearing, you should send these to the relevant case officer and it will be for them, on consultation with the Inspector, as to whether they are accepted. Anything submitted on the day of the hearing will be for the Inspector to decide whether to accept.”

Speaking: “You do not need to give prior notification. You simply attend on the day and the Inspector will guide you from then on.”

If you need to confirm anything please contact the Inspectorate: Customer Support Team, Planning Inspectorate for England:  0303 444 5000  enquiries@pins.gsi.gov.uk

Here is an extract from the Planning Inspector’s letter of the 16^th June: 

As your local district councillor, I urge you to consider whether or not you support the application, as once the inspector has made his decision there will be no further opportunity to object to the shooting activity. 

Regards

Vic Ient

Lewes District Councillor - [Kingston Ward: Falmer - St Ann Without - Kingston - Swanborough - Iford - Northease - Rodmell - Southease - Piddinghoe] 

T: 07788720929     E: vic.ient.libdem@gmail.com    W: https://sussexcampaign.wordpress.com/ 

Save Cockshut Lane

For walkers, dog walkers & cyclists

Re: Cockshut Lane (the western end from the Stanley Turner ground to the corner near the bridge under the A27) 

Blind turning  left under A27

Since 2005 there has been a planning application condition which prohibited the use of Cockshut Lane (the western end from the Stanley Turner ground to the corner near the bridge under the A27) by vehicles associated with the business units at Rise Farm. This is part of the multi-user path to the west of Lewes. As you may know there was considerable effort put in by many people to designate this track as a ‘bridleway’ which has been supported by the ESCC and LDC and the South Downs National Park. 

Blind corner by water works

Sadly the gate at the Stanley Turner end of the track has been damaged and removed. This has led to an increase of cars and vans using the track speeding around two blind corners which is a very real danger to walkers, dog walkers & cyclists. 








The owner of Rise Farm, has now put in an application (SDNP/15/00575/CND) to have the vehicular restriction lifted. The application can be viewed and comments posted at: http://planningpublicaccess.southdowns.gov.uk/online-applications/

Then enter the above reference number. 

The closing date for comments (on-line by e-mail or by post) is 4th March 2015 

If you would object to the use of the track as a road please register your objection on line of by writing in.

More information on the situation:

Click on map to see detail.

This map show existing options for the Rise Farm businesses. Adding a 3rd (red dotted line) would provide an unrestricted (no speed limit) 'rat run into Lewes day and night! 

map Ordnance Survey copyright   

Click on picture to see detail.

The Highways Agency & ESCC own the track! 

The gates at each end have been removed &/or damaged. 









ESCC & the Highways Agency own the track! Please read this copy of my email to Rupert Clubb, Director of Communities, Economy and Transport at ESCC on 25 Feb 2015:

Dear Sir,

Your department has submitted a note in relation to the above-mentioned application saying they wish to make no comments. Please would you review your Council’s position on this application? Please take into consideration the following:

1)   I find this very surprising for a number of reasons, none the least of these being the fact that the county council are in the process of becoming the owner of the trackway concerned in this application. I understand that the Highways Agency and the East Sussex County Council are in the last stages of arranging the transfer of land ownership.

2)   I’m also surprised to find that your department wishes to make no comment since the county council are also in the last stages of confirming the route of this trackway as being a bridleway.

3)   Allowing the free movement of vehicles along this trackway will present a danger to walkers and cyclists which include mothers with prams, disabled with mobility scooters and children on their way to school at the Priory School.

4)   I trust that your officers are aware also that this trackway forms part of the proposed Egrets Way which has the support of the South Downs National Park and I believe your own authority.

5)   The businesses at Rise Farm already have 2 options in terms of entry and exit to their site:

i)     For large vehicles – via Ham Lane into Mountfield Road, which is already used by heavy vehicles travelling to and from the household waste recycling centre and the sewerage works.

ii)   For small vehicles – via Cockshut Road and under the railway bridge to Southover High Street.

6)   Opening up the general use of this track way to the west will encourage other users to use this as a cut-through to various parts of Lewes thus increasing the danger to pedestrians and cyclists, day-time and night-time. NB there is no lighting on this track.

7)   Please note that the original planning permission for this trackway  was to allow agricultural vehicles only to gain access to land on the southern side of the A27 bypass. I have no objection to this specific condition and I don’t think any of the local residents in the area do either.

8)   The original control of access was by 2 gates – one at the west and one at the east end. I believe these gates were installed by East Sussex County Council. Sadly they have now being damaged or removed.

9)   Please do not confuse Cockshut Lane with Cockshut Road.

10)       Please note that this trackway has only been ‘opened up’ in the last few years since the time the gates were removed or damaged. Prior to this and since about 1979 this trackway has been exclusively used for pedestrians, cyclists and authorised agricultural vehicles.

11)       Please remember that this track is used by walkers & cyclists from Cranedown/Kingston Road and Kingston as well as  other villages in the eastern side to the Ouse valley.

I hope you would agree with the points raised in this email but if you do not I would be happy to arrange a site meeting with your officers and representatives of local organisations and groups so that we may discuss the matter in detail.

Neighbourhood Plans

Under the Localism Act (2011) a new form of planning control & development was introduced - Neighbourhood Plans. This empowers local communities giving them a major role in the planning system and allowing them to shaping the development in their areas. 

This guide is designed to get a village, town or area group started in understanding what a neighbourhood plan is. It is focused on the South Downs National Park area. For more information follow the links at the end of this blog. 

This is where the neighbourhood plan fits into the planning system: 

For the town or neighbourhood:

It may only be for the town, parish or area

but it can have a major impact on 

protecting, developing 

and improving the area.

To quote a government planning inspector: 'neighbourhood plans are about land use.' What is the make up of a neighbourhood plan? Quite simply in the end the plan will be made up of these main sections:

What aspects of our local community and area can a neighbourhood plan have an effect on? Here are some examples:

Some general principles for Neighbourhood Plans:

While a Neighbourhood Plan is flexible to some extent in terms of what can be included, you cannot put whatever you like in it:

A Neighbourhood Plan can…

• Decide where and what type of development should happen in the neighbourhood.
• Promote more development than is set out in the Local Plan.
• Include policies, for example regarding design standards, that take precedence over existing policies in the Local Plan for the neighbourhood – provided the Neighbourhood Plan policies do not conflict with the strategic policies in the Local Plan.

A Neighbourhood Plan cannot…

• Conflict with the strategic policies in the Local Plan prepared by the local planning authority.
• Be used to prevent development that is included in the Local Plan.
• Be prepared by a body other than a parish or town council or a neighbourhood forum.
• What can a Neighbourhood Plan contain?

So long as your Neighbourhood Plan complies with the above principles, it can be as narrow or as broad as you wish. But it must be primarily about the use and development of land and buildings. It can also have a say in how buildings should look (their ‘design’), or the materials they are constructed from.

Typical things that a Neighbourhood Plan might include:

• The development of housing, including affordable housing and bringing vacant or derelict housing back into use.
• Provision for businesses to set up or expand their premises.
• Transport and access (including issues around roads, cycling, walking and access for disabled people).
• The development of schools, places of worship, health facilities, leisure and entertainment facilities, community and youth centres and village halls.
• The restriction of certain types of development and change of use, for example to avoid too much of one type of use.
• The design of buildings.
• Protection and creation of open space, nature reserves, allotments, sports pitches, play areas, parks and gardens, and the planting of trees.
• Protection of important buildings and historic assets such as archaeological remains.
• Promotion of renewable energy projects, such as solar energy and wind turbines.

What are the steps in making up the plan. Here is an extract from the CPRE guide:

Useful links (NB: the link may go out of date but the organisation can still be found by searching the web): 

CPRE - Short document and guide

http://www.cpre.org.uk/resources/housing-and-planning/planning/item/2689-how-to-shape-where-you-live-a-guide-to-neighbourhood-planning

file:///C:/Users/Vic/Downloads/How_to_shape_where_you_live.pdf

page 11/12

UK Gov: 

http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/

http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/blog/guidance/neighbourhood-planning/what-is-neighbourhood-planning/what-is-a-neighbourhood-plan-and-what-is-its-relationship-to-a-local-plan/

http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/blog/guidance/neighbourhood-planning/

Guidance:

Locality (national network of community-led organisations):

http://locality.org.uk/resources/neighbourhood-planning-roadmap-guide/

The Royal Town Planning Institute
http://www.rtpi.org.uk/planning-aid/neighbourhood-planning/

South Downs National Park Authority, SDNPA 

https://www.southdowns.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/neighbourhood-planning/

Forum (anyone can join)

http://southdownsforum.ning.com/group/neighbourhood-planning

Grants:

http://mycommunity.org.uk/programme/neighbourhood-planning/

Old Magistrates Court

Old Magistrates Court - Quora Developments Flat Roof Box Design 

We understand that the SDNPA will meet on the 12th December 2013 to decide on future of this site. 

It may still be possible to submit your comments in these closing stages. Have a go! For the sake of our town!  

See below for recommended wording of objection letter

The historic town of Lewes deserves better than this!

The SDNPA are scheduled to meet on the 14^th November to decide on this application to (a) demolish the existing building & (b) erect a new building in its place. Please would you let the SDNPA know of your objections? We all hope that the authority will reject this inappropriate flat roof design right in middle of the conservation area in the heart of historic Lewes. 

To comment go to:
http://planningpublicaccess.southdowns.gov.uk/online-applications/ Enter the application number (SDNP/13/02497/FUL) and click the ‘comments’ tab. You will then be able to send your comments on line. You can also object to the application to demolish the courthouse by entering that application number: SDNP/13/02499/CON. 

If built this building were constructed it be bang next door to the Grade II Listed Fitzroy Memorial Library. In fact the architects carefully avoided any including of nearby building as you can see from the design sketch above! 

About the architects & the developer:

As indicated by their web site Juice architects are used to designing buildings more suitable for an out-of-town shopping centre or a new town. There is no indication that they have any skill in designing buildings suitable for an historic town. see their website: http://www.juicearchitects.com/4A_01_Sustainability.htm   

As for Quora,  their developments are along same lines of bland that 60s and 70s architecture, much of which is deplored today. Here is an example: http://www.quoradevelopments.com/projects-killamarsh.html. 

And Premier Inn (part of Whitbread plc) who are due to run the hotel aren’t much better:

Here is an example of Premier Inn and the county council riding roughshod over the local opinion despite the submission of a 12,000 signature petition: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-22871341. Premier Inn doesn’t have a good track record in terms of architecture or enhancing the character, fabric and community in towns and cities.  

The existing building





                   Ariel View 

Lewes Town 

Recommended wording of objection e-mail: 

I strongly object to this development and request Refusal of this application because of the scale and design of development and its lack of respect for the traditional materials, scale and appearance of the historic core of Lewes, which will cause harm to the traditional appearance of the national park in this location.

The traditional character of Lewes is set out in the conservation area appraisal (published in 2007 by the LDC & revised by the SDNPA in July 2012, draft) for this historic core of the town where is says that ‘fundamental principles’ must be adhered to for example it says “Any intervention should echo and reinforce those characteristics of the buildings, townscape and public realm of Lewes which make a positive contribution to the town and its local distinctiveness”.

Traditional materials are durable - local brick and tiles or traditional stucco. Roofs are traditionally pitched and tiled, or in Victorian times slate was used. The bulk of older buildings along the High Street were tiled with pitched roofs of red clay tiles or later, with slate roofs, with a return to tiles during the Edwardian period. The existing courthouse building used good quality traditional materials, although from a rather somber pallet. It has a complex tiled, pitched roof which reflects its context. The walls and façade are necessarily rather forbidding partly because the site was walled for security. The buildings did not cover the whole of the site.

This proposal would involve the demolition of the courthouse and its replacement by a flat roofed structure. The new building would have a curved, grey glazed tile elevation which includes shops on the ground floor. with a hotel above, facing towards the public car park regarded as being at the rear of the courthouse. The materials used are not commonly found in the conservation area, nor – by and large - are flat roofs. The main hotel elevation facing the car park is formed of large boxy unit 

Regardless of its durability, the design is out of scale with the smaller units found in Lewes and will not conserve, let alone enhance, the appearance of the conservation area.

The building proposed echoes much of the architecture of the 60s & early 70s which are in many towns & cities in the UK and are seen as eyesores now. 

We, who will have to put up with this structure long after the current developers have disposed of it will not want to be reminded of such architectural failures. 

Historically and currently residents, tourists & visitors are drawn to Lewes from a wide area because of the flint castle, flint and brick walled twittens, and the small scale, pretty streets of warm colours and quaint shops. A test for any new building in the historic core should be whether it will carry on the tradition and in turn become part of the attraction of this historic market town, rather than merely exploiting it.

This development is bland and large in scale. It might be acceptable in a new town context or on the fringe of an industrial area but is out of scale with the historic core of Lewes and will neither conserve nor enhance the South Downs National Park.