Outline Planning Permission Granted For New Homes and Community Facilities

Outline planning permission was granted in 2023 and includes:

Reduction in final number of proposed homes by 10% from 400 to 360
35% affordable housing
A mix of housing types of 1- 4 bed homes
Football pitches
Allotments
Extension to Hellingly Country Park
Range of play areas including a local equipped area of play (LEAP)
Minimum 10% net biodiversity gain across the site
Green links through the developable area, and the site is designed to prioritise sustainable and active modes of travel, including walking, cycling, bus travel and electric vehicles
A range of off-site improvements to highways and public transport, including upgrades to existing pedestrian/cycle links and local bus stops

Statutory consultees (e.g. Environment Agency, Highways England, Natural England and the Parish Council) and local residents will then have the opportunity to formally comment on the application.

We will continue to work closely with the Council and where necessary will respond to statutory consultees.

However, should you wish to submit further feedback directly to Catesby Estates you can do this via the Have Your Say Form on this website.

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.

A Reserved Matters application typically include information about the layout, scale and appearance of the development. No development can take place on site until the Reserved Matters application has been consented.

Site Background - Park Farm East Hailsham

The land at Park Farm East is located to the north of Hailsham within the parish of Hellingly.

The site was identified as a draft housing allocation for 400 new homes in the now withdrawn Local Plan. Before the draft Local Plan, Park Farm already formed part of the North Hailsham Strategic Development Area – an urban extension area designated under the adopted Core Strategy 2013. (page 42).

The Council is in the process of preparing a new Local Plan, however in the meantime there remains a significant need to deliver new homes in the short term. Wealden District Council can only demonstrate 3.79 years housing supply against their current need, which is far short of the 5 years the Government requires.

Development of the land at Park Farm is in line with the Council’s spatial strategy for development and is located in an area long envisaged as providing an extension to Hailsham. It offers the opportunity to provide high quality, well designed homes to support the Council in meeting housing need in the district.

As part of the development a substantial package of improvements to services, open space and recreation areas and contribution to essential local facilities and strategic services such as roads, schools and healthcare will also be secured.

Park Farm West was sold to Taylor Wimpey (August 2021). The site includes 370 new homes, 35% affordable housing, extensive public open space and play areas including an extension to the existing Hellingly Country Park. You can find out more about Park Farm West here.

Access & Transport/Highways Contributions For Park Farm East

Vehicular access is via two new junctions onto New Road.

A safe pedestrian route will be integrated into the scheme, to adjoin a new section of footpath that is to be provided along New Road and the A271 to the east.

The site will be supported with the provision of a new bus service which will complete a short loop of the site.

During the consultation process for the approved application at Park Farm West, we were made aware that local residents had concerns in respect to existing and potential traffic congestion. After undertaking traffic surveys and transport modelling, we were able to accurately understand how vehicles use the highway network in the surrounding area, thus helping mitigate the impact of additional traffic as a result of the development. A comprehensive package of highway improvements in the vicinity of the site, together with contributions towards wider highway network improvements were agreed. These include:

A contribution of £525,000 towards junction improvements at the Leaps Cross Roundabout
Construction of a new roundabout to upgrade the Featherbed Lane/New Road/A271 Junction
Provision of new bus stops onto New Road together with the relocation and upgrade of existing bus stops on the A271, including new shelters, poles and pedestrian crossings
A contribution of £48,000 towards new RTPI Bus stop signs
Provision of footway along New Road and improvements to existing footpath in the Hellingly Green development
Provision of a toucan crossing onto New Road

Given the work undertaken to date, we have a understanding of the existing highway network and this, together with further consultation and our continued liaison with Wealden District Council and East Sussex County Council enables us to be confident that we can deliver a suitable package of enhanced highway improvements and additional financial contributions to ensure the traffic generated as a result of Park Farm East does not adversely impact the highway network.

Ecology At Park Farm East, Hellingly

We have completed a full suite of ecology surveys including Great Crested Newts, Bats, Dormice, Badgers, Reptiles and breeding birds. The main areas of ecological interest are in the existing hedgerows and trees, on site watercourses and adjoining woodland.

The sites are also located within the wider surrounds of a number of ecological designations, with the nearest, Jarvis’s, Nobody’s and Park Wood Complex Local Wildlife Site, located adjacent to the site boundary.

The masterplans for both sites have been informed by the results of the ecology surveys and have been carefully designed around maintaining habitats of ecological value, namely the established boundary habitats.

The development proposed will also incorporate large areas of public open space which will provide the opportunity for significant ecological enhancement on both sites.

Such measures will include creation of wildflower grassland, wetland habitat, and new tree and shrub planting, whilst additional roosting and nesting opportunities will be created for bats and birds, in addition to hibernacula for reptiles, and creation of brash piles for small mammals such as Hedgehog.

Protection of the water course which runs through the site and provision of biodiversity opportunities through careful design and extensive landscape areas with new trees and native planting.

Public Consultation for strategic land site Park Farm East

Catesby Estates had been promoting both land sites Park Farm West and Park Farm East for residential development and public open space.

We held two consultation events for local residents in September 2019, to view our initial proposals for both land parcels.

Following a virtual planning committee (June 2020), Wealden District Council, in line with the Planning Officer’s recommendation resolved to grant outline planning permission for 370 new homes and public open space on the Park Farm West site.

An Outline Planning Application for Park Farm East was submitted in February 2022.

Struggling To Get On The Housing Ladder in Hellingly?

Are you struggling to get on the housing ladder to buy your own home, or on the Local Council Housing Register?

Be the first to hear the latest news on our Affordable Homes by emailing us at:

info@catesbyestates.co.uk or via this website by completing the Have Your Say Form on this website.

We are keen to hear from young professionals and key workers who are looking to get on the housing ladder in Hellingly.

Site Specifics

99.2 Acre Site (40.1 Hectares)
Up to 360 New Homes
Affordable Housing - 35%, which equates to 140 new affordable homes. Affordable housing is a combination of social rented, affordable rent and shared ownership housing, provided to eligible households whose needs are not met by the market. This will assist those looking for their first home, and lower income individuals and families get on the housing ladder in Hellingly.
Housing Mix - Provision of a well-balanced mix of housing, including smaller 1 and 2 bed properties as well as family homes.
Design - Appropriate design and layout to ensure protection of wider landscape views.
Public Open Space - Significant extension to Hellingly Country Park and onsite community open space including equipped areas for formal children’s play and football pitches.
Community Allotments - These will be made available to local residents.
Highways - Park Farm East was identified for development within the draft local Plan. Whilst the plan has now been formally withdrawn, the Council are working towards preparing a new Local Plan with an a much wider strategy for growth than was originally proposed.

Park Farm East already forms part of a strategic development area identified for urban expansion in the Core Strategy 2013 and is well placed to continue to play a key role in the planned growth of the area. The release of this land for development will be dependent on there being sufficient infrastructure to support the number of new homes. Our proposals will be supported by a Transport Assessment to establish the potential impact of the additional traffic, in combination with any other consented schemes and other housing allocations.

We completed Traffic Surveys covering all major junctions within the immediate area prior to COVID 19, and the extent of these surveys was agreed in advance with East Sussex County Council. These surveys are to understand existing volumes of traffic in the study area. We are currently completing the required transport modelling to ascertain the impact of the proposal on the surrounding highway network and to identify any additional improvements which need to be completed to the transport network, beyond the package of measures proposed to be delivered by Wealden District Council and East Sussex County Council.
Public Transport - The site will be supported with the provision of a new bus service which will complete a short loop of the site.
Cycle And Pedestrian Routes - will connect around the site and to the wider public footpath and cycle network.
Drainage - The majority of Park Farm East is within the Environment Agency’s designated Flood Zone 1 the lowest probability of flooding. These areas are assessed as having a less than 1 in 1,000 annual probability of river or sea flooding (<0.1%) in any one year. This is the lowest probability of flooding and is considered suitable for residential properties in national policy.

The area to the north of the site is crossed by the Hurst Haven river which is joined by a small watercourse from the west before heading south towards the Pevensey Levels. Some land alongside the Hurst Haven is within the Environment Agency’s designated Flood Zones 2 and 3. Further work is being undertaken to understand the full extent of this and any development will be located entirely in Flood Zone 1 meaning that the fluvial flood risk will be low.

A full Flood Risk Assessment (FRA) will assess all other sources of flood risk including pluvial, groundwater, sewer, reservoir and artificial drainage. Our proposals include the provision of a sustainable drainage system which protects the Pevensey Levels and existing and proposed housing from flooding. Drainage improvements to New Road are also proposed to help alleviate flash flood events in high rainfall.

Given our work in relation to Park Farm West, we are aware that local residents have concerns in respect of existing surface water drainage in the vicinity of the site. In particular, flash flooding that occurs on New Road during extreme rainfall. We have undertaken hydraulic modelling of the Hurst Haven to understand how the watercourse behaves in an extreme event.

As part of the Park Farm East scheme we intend to provide additional surface water attenuation within the site, increasing the capacity of the Hurst Haven, and controlling the surface water at source. This will limit the flows through the culvert under New Road during extreme events and this together with improvement works to the culvert will significantly reduce the impact of surface water onto New Road.
Ecology - We have completed a full suite of ecology surveys including Great Crested Newts, Bats, Dormice, Badgers, Reptiles and breeding birds. See further commentary on the left.
Air Quality - The local authority, Wealden District Council has not designated any Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) and air quality in the area is likely to be relatively good.

The construction-phase air quality effects of the development and the impact of changes in road vehicle emissions that the development may bring will be assessed in an Air Quality Assessment. Where necessary, measures to eliminate, reduce or mitigate the effects will be recommended.
Lighting - A Lighting Impact Assessment has been carried out and concluded that the installation of artificial lighting for the development will have an overall minor adverse impact.

The proposed lighting solution will be sympathetic to the local surroundings to avoid over lighting, sky glow and glare. As well as protect sensitive woodland edges and wildlife habitats.
Utilities - The surrounding utility infrastructure (e.g. foul water, electricity, gas) will be assessed as part of a Utilities Assessment. Any capacity constraints will be identified, and suitable mitigation will be proposed.
Noise - Prior to undertaking the baseline surveys and assessment it is considered likely that there will be no significant constraints affecting the development, and appropriate internal and external sound levels would be readily achieved through standard construction and design practices and no specific acoustic measures would need to be put in place.