Campaigners against plan for 1,100-home development near East Sussex villages

Campaigners from Don't Urbanise Hamsey are dismayed at the proposed development on 190 acres of countryside on the boundary of the South Downs National Park, north of Lewes.

They said Hamsey is a small and historic rural parish, adding that a large development would ‘destroy’ the landscape and ‘overwhelm’ the Cooksbridge and Hamsey communities. Campaigners at www.donturbanisehamsey.org also say the development will affect residents in Lewes, Offham, Barcombe, East Chiltington, Chailey and Newick.

A Don’t Urbanise Hamsey spokesperson said: “Hamsey and Cooksbridge are rural, car dependent locations. Some 2,000-plus extra cars would cause gridlock on the roads around Lewes, particularly at Lewes Prison Crossroads and along the A275. It would also put huge pressure on local services.”

Lewes District Council recently published the results of a Land Availability Assessment, which said site ‘19HY Land North of Cooksbridge’ was ‘potentially suitable’. It said: “The site is predominantly Grade 3 Good to Moderate Agricultural Land, with parts of Grade 2 Very Good Quality and Grade 4 Poor Quality Agricultural Land. Development of the site may lead to the loss of the Best and Most Versatile agricultural land.”

Photos of Southern Water works in Lewes – images show blocked road

It added that the site is ‘in a countryside location where new development will only be permitted where it is consistent with a specific development policy and where the need for a countryside location can be demonstrated under the current local plan framework’. The assessment said the site is near an operating railway, contains a 1.5 Ha priority habitat (deciduous woodland) and is ‘in close proximity to a number of priority habitats’.

It said: “Considering the scale of the development, it may provide opportunities to introduce wildlife or ecological corridors and improve the existing green infrastructure network.”

It added there is ‘no identified need’ to relocate existing tenants and ‘no identified barriers to delivery’.

But the Don’t Urbanise Hamsey spokesperson said: “This is the wrong development in the wrong place. Our countryside is beautiful – in the setting of the South Downs National Park close to Sites of Special Scientific Interest and between two Conservation Areas.”

They added: “Any development would overwhelm our villages; destroy our precious landscape, views and wildlife; and cause gridlock on our roads.”