Decision on 241 new Hailsham homes delayed due to flooding concerns

On Thursday (December 1), Wealden District Council’s Planning Committee South considered a reserved matters application, connected to plans to build 241 new homes on land west of Ersham Road.

As the site was granted outline planning permission in 2020, planners were deciding on detailed technical matters, rather than the overall principle of development.

These technical matters included drainage, as a culvert running though the site posed a risk of flooding.

East Sussex County Council (as lead local flood authority) had not objected to the proposals, as it considered that the developer’s plans would mitigate any hazard from this flooding, as long as appropriate conditions were put in place.

Even with these conditions, however, the county council had said the mitigated hazard would still pose a ‘risk to life of children’ in some flooding events, due to the location of a designated play area on the site.

While recommended for approval by planning officers, committee members had grave concerns about this risk and argued more should be done to reduce it.

Committee chairman Susan Stedman (Con) said: “It is the most extraordinary thing I have ever read in a commentary and I have been doing this for very nearly 20 years.”

She added: “I would be happy to support a deferral and give our officers the chance to come back with a report [where] we would not have to put our name to danger to children. I’m not prepared to put my name to that.”

Her concerns were shared by all of the committee, which unanimously voted to defer the scheme so further efforts can be made to reduce the risk.

Cllr David White (Ind) said: “I just wonder if there isn’t a better layout that could be achieved that would remove all of the flood risk if we looked at a lower density.”

It was ultimately deferred on a ‘without prejudice’ basis, meaning all elements of the scheme could be considered afresh when it returns to the committee.