Honey Farm, Polegate

Victory

CPRE Sussex is celebrating the news that the Secretary of State has dismissed the appeal by Pelham Homes for 520 houses at Honey Farm in the countryside west of Polegate.

Throughout a Planning Inquiry in January and February this year, environmental groups led by CPRE Sussex fought alongside local residents, parish councils and Wealden Council to demonstrate the unacceptable impact on the landscape, local amenity and environmental sustainability.

Stuart Meier , Director of CPRE Sussex said "Working with other groups and local residents we demonstrated just how bad this plan was. We are delighted it has been firmly kicked out because it would have had horrendous consequences for the countryside, the Downs , the local people and not least the proposed residents themselves."  He continued "CPRE support good development, but this was simply the wrong plan for the wrong houses in the wrong place. Had the proposal not been blocked, these houses would have been stranded on the wrong side of the busy A27. The residents would actually have been fenced in with anti-climb fences 'for their own safety'!"

History

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 in January 2011.

In December 2009, 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.

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