CPRE Sussex - Campaign to Protect Rural England (Sussex) : Welcome


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CPRE SUSSEX

welcome

Our Campaigns

Membership

Download our Membership Form

CPRE Sussex Members' Events in and around Sussex for 2010

The Sussex Review is now available for pdf download

eTools available as a pdf download

CPRE Sussex Aims and Objectives

Full article on The Challenge of Change from Branch member Desmond Gunner

Tranquillity Maps

South-East Map

Intrusion Maps

> Intrusion Map Sequence 1960 to 2007

CPRE maps show the shocking impact of intrusion on our undisturbed countryside. With increased pressure from development in all forms our peaceful countryside could disappear in only 45 years, within the lifetime of our children. 65% of West Sussex countryside is affected by noise and visual intrusion, 56% in East Sussex

Housing at Honey Farm, Polegate, would be
"a brazen affront to the South Downs National Park"

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has called for environmental groups and the public to join it in fighting renewed plans for houses at Polegate, East Sussex which it calls "a brazen affront to the new National Park".

Plans for 520 houses have already been rejected by Wealden District Council, but Pelham Homes is now trying to get the decision overturned at a major public Inquiry later this year.

Last December, Wealden District Council refused planning permission for the houses at Honey Farm, on the border of the new South Downs National Park . The council found the plan had numerous flaws due to the impact it would have on the South Downs and on local heritage and infrastructure.

Stuart Meier, Director of CPRE Sussex, said "this proposal has rightly been thrown out by the council. CPRE has long resisted the suggestion of development on this sensitive site, which manages both to be inaccessible to people because it is on the wrong side of the A27, and to be very prominent in the landscape because it is right at the foot of Folkington Down".

"The site has been firmly rejected by Wealden District Council in its strategic assessment, and it is clear to any walker on the Downs that it would be a savage scar on the face of the new National Park. It is simply the wrong plan in the wrong place."

CPRE Sussex has announced it will fight the proposal by linking up with other groups to challenge the developers at the Inquiry. Stuart Meier says it has already had offers of support from other environmental groups, and has written to the Planning Inspectorate to seek full inquiry involvement.

CPRE is asking the public to support its efforts by becoming members, the subscriptions going to its appeals fund, see www.cpresussex.org.uk.

A public meeting is planned shortly, but members of the public who wish to object now should write to the Planning Inspectorate quoting reference APP/C1435/A/10/2130580/NWF, to:

Ms Sian Evans
Planning Inspectorate
4\08 Eagle Wing, Temple Quay House
Temple Quay
Bristol BS1 6PN

CPRE Sussex tell East Sussex County Council
"re-think your waste strategy from scratch"

In a submission to ESCC, CPRE Sussex has invited the County Council to go back to the drawing board with its waste disposal strategy, because NONE of its proposed Areas of Search will yield an acceptable waste disposal site. The submission also challenges the County's waste water strategy, which could lead to a major sewage works in the Cuckmere Valley.

Director Stuart Meier told a public meeting packed by hundreds of objectors at Hailsham on Saturday January 23rd "the County Council needs to go back to the drawing board - their strategy is unsound and a rethink from scratch is needed. The County need to take urgent action to curtail waste tipping, pushing waste planning up the so-called waste hierarchy, by driving for waste avoidance, reuse and recycling. Tipping waste on greenfields as 'Landraise' is medieval and completely unacceptable".

Say NO to Land-Raise Waste Disposal in East Sussex

East Sussex County Council is proposing "Land raise" - building a hill out of waste on a greenfield site - as the solution to the county's lack of waste disposal capacity, in its "Waste and Minerals Development Framework which went out to consultation in late 2009.

CPRE is objecting strenuously to the proposals, not only because the proposed “areas of search” for a site or sites will destroy greenfields and farmland, but because NONE of the areas will in CPRE's opinion yield a site which is not fundamentally flawed on detailed environmental grounds.

All the five search areas suggested by the county council are in the Low Weald, so avoiding the High Weald area of outstanding natural beauty and the South Downs National Park. However, the southernmost search area is on Laughton Levels, close to the villages of Glynde, Firle and Ripe, and highly visible from the South Downs Way . CPRE believes that its visual impact will be unacceptable to the setting of the National Park, and that it should therefore be rejected. Notably, the South Downs Joint Committee has already objected for this reason.

The four more northerly search areas share one feature apart from proximity to main roads – they would all affect areas of Ancient Woodland, directly or indirectly. While each also has other planning flaws, the protection of Ancient Woodland was greatly strengthened in 2005, and CPRE believes that none of the areas would be acceptable for this reason alone.

East Sussex unquestionably has a major problem with waste disposal, but CPRE Sussex believes that its strategy is fundamentally flawed and must be rethought from scratch, with a major county wide campaign of waste reduction, so that an overwhelming proportion of the county's waste is re-used, recycled, or converted into energy.

For more information please see here

You can find out more about the Consultation on the ESCC website (scroll down the page to find the documents to download)

Alternatively, you can download the Preferred Strategy only.

> Read the views of the local residents who object to the proposals

Planning News

Glyndebourne Wind Turbine Proved to be Hot Air
>Find out more

South Downs designated a National Park
>Find out more

Need help with a planning matter?
>Find out more

Downland Farm, Uckfield, Planning Appeal Refused
The Secretary of State has refused the application
>Find out more

CPRE Sussex welcomes decision to drop Ford from Ecotwon list
>Find out more

Aviation

Good news at Gatwick as new owners rule out second runway.

>Find out more

Keep it Local by Buying British Foods

10 good reasons to eat food from British farms.

> Find out more

Stop the Drop

CPRE has launched a major campaign led by their President, the well-known author, Bill Bryson, to target the growing problem of litter in the countryside.
>Find out more

Land Banking

A growing problem in Sussex where land is subdivided into small plots and sold as if it has development potential. If you know of any such activity please report this to Development Control at your local Council and notify CPRE National Office to help maintain their database. Please email to info@cpre.org.uk titled 'Landbanking in Sussex'
> Find out more

South East Plan too many houses in the wrong place

CPRE Sussex is shocked that the final South East Plan is forcing 116,000 houses on Sussex , equivalent to a city the size of Brighton and Hove . Yet three quarters of Sussex is not available for major development at all, due to AONBs, the new National park, and other constraints!

The Argus* on 7th May 2009 described the Plan as having ‘ridden roughshod over critics of its house building targets'. We agree!

Other parts of the South East region may have reason to be pleased with the result, but CPRE Sussex is appalled at these housing allocations. The only slight improvement from previous proposals is the 1000 reduction in Brighton & Hove, but none of the countryside districts have been changed from previous excessive proposals.

CPRE Sussex will continue to resist these ill-considered and inappropriate housing allocations which are based on flawed housing projections which have been invalidated by the Credit Crunch.

*See The Argus