Demand a sustainable development for Old Malling Farm
Plans for a 226-home development at Old Malling Farm in Lewes are raising concerns for their lack of affordable housing, potential to increase traffic, and poor sustainability credentials. Here’s how you can lodge comments with the South Downs National Park.
How we design new homes and housing developments plays a critical role in tackling climate change and ecological breakdown.
That’s partly why there’s been a lot of concern about a planning application for 226 homes at Old Malling Farm on the north-western outskirts of Lewes by the River Ouse, which has been submitted to the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA). You can see the whole planning application on the SDNPA website by searching for application reference SDNP/18/06103/OUT.
As well as only providing 15% affordable housing (against a planning policy requirement of 50%), the outline application:
- Includes spaces for an additional 550 cars and doesn’t offer any attractive sustainable transport alternatives – such as using the old Uckfield railway line to create a new walking and cycling route into town
- Makes no proposals to reduce the number of car journeys required by providing on-site facilities such as workspace, shops or local amenities
- Fails to commit to being zero carbon and zero waste, as required by SDNPA policy
- Does not demonstrate how the development addresses climate change mitigation and adaptation, as required by SDNPA policy, including creating energy-efficient homes
- Does not give any indication of how the development will identify and incorporate opportunities for net gains in biodiversity as required by SDNPA policy.
We think this would be a missed opportunity to create a development that reflects how we really need to design and build in the face of climate change. If you’d like to learn more, we strongly recommend reading this consultation response by a number of Lewes District Councillors.
If you wish to respond, send your comments to the South Downs National Park Authority via their website. Search for application reference SDNP/18/06103/OUT and go to the ‘Comments’ tab.
Although the formal deadline for responses was 1 March 2021, all responses will be considered until the application goes in front of the planning committee.
I strongly object to the application on the grounds of environmental impact as well as housing need and affordable housing, traffic, local amenities and sustainability.
Thanks Catherine -do make your views known to the South Downs National Park via their Comments channel mentioned above!
Do make your views known: If you wish to respond, send your comments to the South Downs National Park Authority via their website. Search for application reference SDNP/18/06103/OUT and go to the ‘Comments’ tab.
Although the formal deadline for responses was 1 March 2021, all responses will be considered until the application goes in front of the planning committee.
I have now had an opportunity to look at The Old Malling Farm development proposal for 226 dwellings.
It would appear to me that the development is to be tacked onto the town neither a part of the town or self sufficient with its own employment, shops and cafes. During the day it will become an empty shell and at night it will be full of badly parked cars.
Access to the town or major roads is extremely poor, I do not have to be a genius to work out there will be traffic congestion into and out of the development at peak times, ie school runs and commuter traffic.
Accepting that expensive housing requires more than one expensive car per household I think the development will become overrun with on street parking and masses of vehicle movements making it extremely unattractive to use more sustainable modes of transport. Who in their right mind would want to cycle of walk out of the area via Monks Way with the extremely high volume of traffic using the sole access point. The alternative would be to use the 60 steps towards Tesco. I wouldn’t want to lug my bike up and down those steps and I wouldn’t want to join the rest of the neighbours on Monks Way.
Even though the plan is to build expensive houses it is likely that today’s expensive properties will become tomorrow’s ghetto area as we move towards a more sustainable future
Absolutely, Ms Field – it’s at total odds both with the South Downs National Park’s policies and the Lewes Neighbourhood Plan – please add your insightful comments to the planning application on the SDPNA’s website. We never should have built like this – and we definitely shouldn’t be building like this now.
Have only just heard about this having visited Lewes this afternoon. My first response is to question the threat of flooding. Isn’t this estate going to be at high risk?
If there are plans for a flood defence scheme please be careful about the environment agency. In Shoreham we have had a dreadful experience with the agency. They made us any number of assurances none of which they kept. The end result is an awful mess.