“Where are you going to put the moorings for boats?”

THE WORRYING QUESTION AS ASKED BY COUNCILLOR GAVIN BLAKE-COGGINS, AS HE TELLS WEALDEN DISTRICT COUNCIL THE DAMAGE THE MARSHFOOT DEVELOPMENT COULD CAUSE...

refusal has meant the development is going ahead.

Major concerns were raised by residents and councillors about the single access to the massive estate via what’s been described as a cul-de-sac, ‘a road totally unsuitable for the expected construction traffic’ and an expected 600 car movements a day when the housing is complete.

During the meeting at the Civic Hall in Hailsham, one local resident Neil Stone was given three minutes to express concerns over the development. In his passionate appeal, Mr Stone said: “This application is corrupt. Paths to be increased ‘where possible’ The only crossing near Mable Way now replaced with a driveway.

Mr Neil overrun by thirty seconds and shouted down by the chairman. Stone continued to complete his point and make his views heard. He was then publicly called “a very rude man”, by Acting Deputy Chairman, Councillor Howell. The meeting was then adjourned for ten minutes for members to ‘cool down’.

Another resident told the committee: “Marshfoot Lane is unsafe for pedestrians as it is, and the developers have been given no orders to correct this. It is a dead-end lane which passes two schools and is only suitable for one-way traffic. An additional 600 cars a day will make life for local residents intolerable.”

Councillor for Hailsham East, Gavin Blake-Coggins said: “Marshfoot Lane is a cul-de-sac, it needs a proper road put in, not just resurfaced. It’s a condensed development of 300 houses, the carbon footprint of that part of town will be increased by 42%.”

He added: “Tonnes of water will fall on the ground where there’s no drainage, it’ll go straight on to the Pevensey Levels. It’s a complete and total disaster - residents in nearby Mabel Lane were given sand bags recently to stop them being flooded. We are going to end up with a town full of pollution, the nearby schools will suffer, I think you should act accordingly.”

Leader of Wealden District Council, Councillor Bob Standley told the committee: “This is the worst site for a development I’ve ever had to consider. If residents parked entirely legally down that lane, HGV traffic will be massively restricted. Anyone buying a property here should consider it carefully, as the clue’s in the name - Marshfoot!”

Other Councillors raised huge concerns about the ability by Southern Water to ensure it can deal with the development and not allow additional sewerage to enter the channel, however, Natural England, primary advisors to the Secretary of State, has no objections over the development.

Councillor Phillip Lunn said: “We have this thing called Westminster, that tells us we have to do certain things. If we don’t build out our quota, then they will put in somebody from Secretary of State, and they will become head of planning, and say go and build this, go and build that!”

Frustrations from the general public over the past four years were recognised by Councillor Neil Cleaver during the meeting. He said: “Thank you to the public speakers - I can see why they are so cheesed off. It disgusts me nothing has been done about Old Swan Road which will see an increase in traffic, and already suffers raw sewerage on the road when ditches overflow.”

He asked pertinent questions, which were echoed by many other members. “What about the attenuation ponds on other new housing developments locally? These are totally unsuitable and overflow when put under pressure. They are not maintained as promised and are already overgrown. Will this new development be the same?”

The surrounding road network is likely to be another victim of the development with more vehicles expecting to use St. Mary’s Avenue as a route in and out of the estate. “This is also a single passing road and is no better than Marshfoot Lane,” commented Councillor for Hellingly, David White.

Listening to the feedback from the committee, Stacey Robins, Head of Planning and Environmental Services commented: “Natural England are primary advisors to the Secretary of State, and it has no objections about the outline permission, or the drainage issues raised by the committee. If they don’t have concerns - why should we have concerns as a competent authority?”

Summarising the meeting, Chairman Susan Stedman said: “As you know, when we first decided this, none of us liked it. We did not have the support from Natural England to refuse it, and they are the main authority on these sort of applications. I was unhappy they were unable to support us in a refusal, they think it’s alright, with that backing, I have no option to put this forward for approval.”

Full permission was then given to the development by a majority of 6 to 4.

National England will examine the decision made at the meeting and raise any issues before any papers are issued.

A spokesperson from the Vistry Group, the company behind the development told Hailsham News: “We are pleased Wealden District Council resolved to grant Reserved Matters’ approval earlier this month.”

“Vistry is contributing more than £4million in community infrastructure levy payments, plus £300,000 towards youth space, the Maurice Thornton Playing Field. Improvements to Marshfoot Lane will include footpath improvements, crossing enhancements and road repairs.”

They added: “All residential development at the site is located in flood zone one, the lowest flood risk area, and the finished floor levels of all homes have been set above the 1 in 200 year flood levels.”

“The drainage systems have been designed to allow for 1 in 100 year flood events, incorporating an extra 40 per cent for climate change. The eastern edge of the site has been used for open space and attenuation basins, these combined measures ensure flood risk is not increased elsewhere as a result of the development.”