CPRE Lewes District 2026 AGM, 26 September

Our 2026 AGM is being held in Beechwood Hall Cooksbridge on Saturday 26 September at 2pm. It will provide an opportunity for members and others interested to meet and hear from representatives from local countryside organisations.We look forward to seeing you there.

Agenda for the 2026 AGM

1. Welcome to the meeting
2. Apologies for absence
3. Minutes of the AGM held on 16 July 2025
4. Committee report (below)
5. Election of committee:

a) Chairman – Dr John Kay is prepared to stand again

b) Secretary – Robert Cheesman is prepared to stand again

c) Other members – Mary Greenwood, Philip Pople, and David Taylor are prepared to stand again

(Other nominations from members for election to the committee would be very welcome and should be made to the Secretary prior to the commencement of the meeting.)

6. Any other business.

Robert Cheesman, Secretary
mailto:robertcheesman@btinternet.com”>robertcheesman@btinternet.com or 26 Old Malling Way, Lewes BN7 2EG.

Beechwood Hall is situated in Beechwood Lane, Cooksbridge and there is parking space beside it.  Beechwood Lane is the lane on the west side of the A 275 prior to reaching the level crossing if approaching from Lewes.

Committee Report since AGM in July 2025

The Lewes District CPRE committee is part of the Sussex Branch of CPRE and essentially considers issues arising in the non-urban parts of Lewes District.  It has no separate funds of its own but any reasonable expenses, such as the hire of rooms, are met by the Sussex Branch.  Similarly it does not have a separate membership subscription but all CPRE members with an address in Lewes District are sent any communications it generates.

At the July 2025 AGM Dr John Kay was appointed the chairman of the committee and Robert Cheesman the secretary.  Other members appointed to the committee then were Mary Greenwood,  Philip Pople and David Taylor.   Younger members would be welcome to ensure that the committee can continue to function in the longer term. There will have been 6 committee meetings during the year.

The committee had suggested a members visit to Iford Farm and the Sussex Branch arranged for this to take place in September.  It included a talk by Ben Taylor, Farm Manager, about the biodiversity net gain initiative and this was followed by a walking tour at Houndean Farm where Ben was able to show examples of the initiative in action.

The committee has considered the implications of Government changes to the National Planning Policy Framework and how this affects the draft Lewes District Local Plan on which the Article 19 consultation is planned. This is the last one prior to submission of the Plan to the Planning Inspectorate. This plan, when adopted will list possible sites in the District, outside the South Downs National Park, where development could take place.  At the same time the South Downs National Park Authority has been moving forward with the review of their Local Plan and a number of possible sites for development have been identified within the town of Lewes.

Comments on planning applications outside the urban areas of the District have been made where necessary to Lewes District Council or the South Downs National Park Authority if the application is to be determined by them.  Since 1^st April the latter have taken over responsibility for considering all applications within their area and have established a team of officers at County Hall to consider them. The number of significant applications on which comments were made remains high particularly as developers seem ready to make applications for new housing on greenfield sites with low numbers of affordable properties. Dr John Kay has done most of this work and also any follow up necessary when an application, that has either been refused or not determined, goes to appeal by the Planning Inspectorate.

The committee considered the Government’s proposed reorganisation of local government in the whole of Sussex and note that the Government’s decision for East Sussex is to have one new unitary Council replacing the existing County and District or Borough Councils whilst transferring East Saltdean, Telscombe Cliffs and Peacehaven to the Brighton and Hove unitary authority.