Catesby Estates promotes strategic land in Haywards Heath

Proposals for new homes and community facilities:

Land Off Lunce's Hill, Haywards Heath

Outline planning applications for Land Off Lunce's Hill, Haywards Heath, West Sussex have been submitted to both Lewes District Council (LDC) and Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC).

This site falls across two Council boundaries. Approximately 17.17 acres (6.95 hectares) of the site lies within the jurisdiction of Lewes District Council (LDC), with the remaining 4.59 acres (1.86 hectares) falling within the jurisdiction of Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC).

The applications are currently awaiting validation and will be available to view on the Council's planning portals once validated: Lewes District Council (LDC) and Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC).

In summary the proposals include:

Up to 130 energy efficient new homes with a mix of house sizes and types, from 1 to 4 bed homes
30% affordable housing on the Mid Sussex District Council land and 40% affordable housing on the Lewes District Council land (in accordance with adopted Policy)
A new children’s play area
The retention and restoration of existing on-site barn (Cleavewater Barn) into flexible commercial and/or community use
A new pedestrian crossing on Lunce’s Hill and new footpaths and cycle routes to encourage safe active travel in and around the site
Enhanced boundary planting and buffer zones respecting the area of Ancient Woodland

An outline planning application seeks to establish whether the scale and nature of a proposed development would be acceptable to the local planning authority, before a second fully detailed planning application is put forward, which is called a Reserved Matters.

Where outline permission has been granted, and within three years of the outline approval, an application for the outstanding Reserved Matters can be submitted, i.e., the information excluded from the initial outline planning application.

This will include information about the exact layout, scale and appearance of the new homes, as well as the details of the open space and landscaping.

No development can take place on site until the Reserved Matters application has been consented.

Statutory consultees (e.g., Environment Agency and the Highways Authority) and local residents will have the opportunity to formally comment on the application direct with the Councils.

Development in the area

The site is located within an area undergoing significant change resulting from the recent development, approval, resolution-to-grant, or allocation of a number of development sites to the south of Haywards Heath.

These include a strategic development location being delivered for sustainable residential growth to the north of the site, known as ‘Land at Hurst Farm’. A live application is submitted under planning reference DM/22/2272 for 375 new homes located primarily on allocated land within the boundaries of Mid Sussex District.

The application boundary also covers land within the boundaries of LDC, for an additional residential development parcel, burial ground, allotments and public open space. A resolution to grant planning permission was given by Mid Sussex District Council’s Planning Committee in August 2023.

Another small development site (land at Braydells) lies between the northern boundary of the site and the existing residential properties on Hurstwood Lane. This site has extant planning consent for 4 new homes under reference DM/19/0206, as amended.

An additional, recently completed residential development (‘Spring Bank’) comprising 20 new homes is located to the west of the site. This development was permitted under reference DM/22/0733 in 2022.

As a site that is across two local authorities, it provides an opportunity to enhance the settlement of Haywards Heath as well as contributing sustainably to the peripheral area of the north of Lewes District Council.

Catesby Estates selected as preferred land promoter

Catesby Estates has been selected as the preferred land promoter (June 2024) to work in partnership with the landowner Rurban Estates, to promote a greenfield site totalling 21.68 acres in Haywards Heath, West Sussex.

Sustainable Location For New Homes

The site is in a sustainable location off Lunce’s Hill providing good access to facilities and services within the local area.

Working With Local Communities

Thomas Powell, Senior Land Manager for Catesby Estates said; “We will be working closely with both Mid Sussex District Council & Lewes District Council and other local stakeholders to bring this site forward to deliver a sensitively designed and sustainable residential development with a range of community facilities."

Thank you to Phil Medford and Beth Walters at Eversheds for dealing with the legals on our behalf and Loretta Peddell at Hunter Peddell Property Law acted for the landowners.

Have Your Say

Site Specifics

21.5 Acre Site (8.7 Hectares)
Up to 130 New Homes
New Homes. Up to 130 new sustainable 1 to 4 bed homes.
Affordable Housing. 30% affordable housing on the Mid Sussex District Council land and 40% affordable housing on the Lewes District Council land (in accordance with adopted Policy) with a combination of social rented, affordable rent and shared ownership housing.

This is particularly pertinent in Haywards Heath, where the average house price over the last year was ££454,861 (Rightmove) compared to the UK average of £290,000 (UK House Price Index (HPI).
Cleavewater Barn. Within the site there is an existing building which is understood to have been constructed in the 19th century as an outbuilding or barn to the Grade II listed farmhouse known as Cleavewater.

Our proposals include plans to bring this back into use, along with associated outdoor space and landscaping to help secure the long-term future of the barn through a commercial use.

Possible uses could include; a creche/nursery, farm-shop with café, or a medical/leisure type use such as physiotherapy or a yoga/training studio.
Extensive Public Open Space. The onsite public open space, will include children’s natural play areas, wildflower meadow planting and a network of recreational walking routes.
Ecology. A suite of ecological surveys have been undertaken, including an Extended Phase 1 habitat survey, a desk top data search and species-specific survey for badger, otter, water vole, reptiles, breeding birds and bats.

Pellingford Brook runs through the centre of the site, and an area of Ancient Woodland lies to the east. Natural England and the Forestry Commission recommends that an appropriate buffer zone of semi-natural habitat is implemented between the development and the ancient woodland. This has been reflected in the proposals.

Existing hedgerows and trees will be retained as far as possible to ensure a landscape led scheme and a 10% net gain in biodiversity.
Highways. The access has been positioned to be 20m south of the approved access to the 20-unit development on the opposing side of Lunce’s Hill while also avoiding the existing trees on the site frontage. The access therefore is in the same location as the existing field access.

The junction has been designed as a simple priority junction with a taper on the northern side and an initial width of 6m to accommodate larger vehicle movements then leading to a 5.5m wide access road within the site which is considered suitable for a development of this scale allowing two vehicles to pass.

In order to provide pedestrian connection to the site a 1.8m footway has been demonstrated on the northern side of the proposed access. This will continue up the eastern side of Lunce’s Hill to a proposed uncontrolled pedestrian crossing point 60m before terminating.

At the termination point, an uncontrolled pedestrian crossing equipped with dropped kerbs and tactile paving has been provided to provide a safe crossing point for pedestrians to the existing footway on the western side of Lunce’s Hill/Fox Hill.
Flood Risk / Drainage. The site falls within flood zone 1 (low risk), according to latest Environment Agency data, and is therefore suitable for residential development.

The planning application will be accompanied by a full National Planning Policy compliant Flood Risk Assessment, which assesses the site with respect to all types of flood risk.