Decision due on details of controversial Meads housing development

On Tuesday (February 25), Eastbourne Borough Council’s planning committee are set to consider a reserved matters application to build six houses on an overgrown plot of land to the rear of Wood Winton – a large house off Silverdale Road in Meads.

Several outline proposals to develop the site have previously been considered by the committee in the past two years, but each had been refused as councillors had concerns around the size and access arrangements.

Following the most recent refusal last March, however, the developer successfully appealed against this decision – gaining outline approval to build six houses on the site. 

In a report recommending the scheme be approved, a council planning officer said: “The principle of constructing six dwellings within the site has been established [and] the matters for consideration relate to access arrangements, site layout, the scale and appearance of the development and landscaping arrangements only.

“The submitted scheme shows an arrangement of suitably-sized family dwellings that engage with each other in an effective way and create a distinctive character and sense of activity. 

“The proposed layout is sympathetic to the amenities of surrounding residents in terms of mitigating overlooking, overshadowing and overbearing impact [and] is also consistent with the general characteristics of surrounding residential development.”

The proposed scheme, which would be accessed via Silverdale Road, is made up of six detached homes.

Five of these would be two-and-half storeys tall, with four bedrooms, while the final house would be two storeys tall with five bedrooms.  Each would have off-street parking and a driveway. 

Notably the proposed buildings have a larger footprint than the indicative included in the outline proposals, although planning officers say it “would not result in dwellings that are overly large”.

While recommended for approval by planning officers the scheme remains controversial with residents, with at least 26 individual addresses putting forward official objections. 

In their representations many of the objectors argue the scheme would be an overdevelopment of the site and raise concerns of overlooking on neighbouring properties. 

The scheme is also opposed by the Meads Community Association (MCA), a group representing residents in the area.

In a letter to the council, MCA chairman Dennis Scard said: “The problems identified by the previous objectors and the planning committee still remain.

“The access to the development is along an uphill, long and winding driveway suitable for only one vehicle at a time and the pedestrian pathway is separated from vehicles by a painted line not a separate kerbed pathway. 

“The entrance remains narrow and with greater intensity of traffic this will cause additional problems in Silverdale Road. This is a busy road with a bus route and has parking on both sides of the road.

“The layout and design of this site is a complete overdevelopment based on maximising value of the site, rather to the disadvantage of the area.”

Mr Scard also argues that the reserved matters application – with its larger houses – goes beyond the terms of the outline permission as granted at appeal. 

This view is not shared by officers, however, who say the appeal had only established the principle of six dwellings for the site, with the site layout, scale and appearance of the development being left to this application.

In their report, officers also point out that no objections have been raised by East Sussex Highways – a point which had been drawn out by the planning inspector during the appeal process. 

For further details of the proposals see application reference 190861 on the Eastbourne Borough Council planning website.