Land Promotion in Five Ash Down Uckfield

Outline Planning Application Submission

An outline planning application for Weald Rise, Land North Of Buxted Road, Five Ash Down has been submitted (October 2024) to Wealden District Council (WDC) and can be found on their planning portal - reference WD/2024/2481/MAO.

The proposals include:

80 new homes, with a mix of house sizes and types, ranging from 1 to 4 bed homes to meet local policy requirements and identified need.
35% affordable housing.
Electric car charging points will be provided for each new home.
New public open space including children’s play equipment. Open space on the site totals 6.6 acres which equates to 48% of the site.

Statutory consultees and local residents will have the opportunity to formally comment on the application direct with WDC.

We will continue to work closely with WDC and where necessary will respond to statutory consultees through the planning process.

Wealden Local Plan/Policy Position

Planning Policy in Wealden is out of date with National Policy and has been for some time. The main policy document is the Wealden District (Incorporating Part of the South Downs National Park) Core Strategy Local Plan adopted in February 2013 it sits alongside the Wealden Local Plan (1998) and the Affordable Housing Delivery Local Plan (May 2016). These plans together are called the Council’s Development Plan.

Due to the age of the Development Plan the Council has struggled to provide enough housing for local people. The Council is required to demonstrate a 5 Year Housing Land Supply of planning permissions and sites that will deliver residential development in a rolling 5 year period.

The Council can currently demonstrate a 3.83 Year Supply, according to their Housing Land Supply Position Statement (December 2023). The Council manages a wating list for affordable housing, their latest published data shows that there were 743 households registered on the Council’s Housing Register (As at April 2023).

The Council has recently started the background work to producing a new Local Plan. The Consultation on the Draft Local Plan (Regulation 18) ran from 5pm on Friday 15^th March 2024 to 5pm on Friday 10^th May 2024. The Council are now considering the comments made.

This Site was put forward to the Council during the recent consultation phase as available and ready for residential development.

Affordable Housing

Policy AFH1 Affordable Housing is required at 35% of the total number of dwellings. There is a presumption for development of 49 dwellings or less (net) or less that around 80% of the total number of affordable homes will be for social rented and the remainder for social rented accommodation.

For 50 dwellings (net) or more 35% of the development should be affordable housing of that portion, 40% will be affordable rent 40% should be social rent and 20% intermediate accommodation.

The latest Housing Needs Assessment is from August 2021and can be found here.

Housing Table

Planning Application

We will be submitting an outline planning application with all matters reserved (excluding access). Outline planning applications seek to establish whether the scale and nature of a proposed development would be acceptable to the Local Planning Authority, before a fully detailed proposal is put forward.

Where outline permission has been granted, and within three years of the outline approval, an application for the outstanding reserved matters can be submitted, i.e. the information excluded from the initial outline planning application. This will typically include information about the layout, scale and appearance of the development.

Both types of applications are required to undergo public consultation before submission. Statutory consultees (eg. Environment Agency, Highways England, Natural England and Parish Councils) and local residents will also have the opportunity to formally comment on the applications once they are submitted and registered with the Local Authority.

Benefits To The Economy

The economic benefits of new housing development are significant. A study by the Confederation of British Industries (CBI) demonstrates that construction projects have a significant benefit on the local and wider economy. The report concludes that for every £1 of construction expenditure, £2.84 is injected into the economy.

New development will be key to aiding economic recovery at both a local and national level following the Covid pandemic. The proposed development of new homes, offers the opportunity to stimulate economic growth, create jobs, assist in meeting local housing need and add to the Local Authority’s revenue, as a result of an increase in Council Tax revenue stream and the New Homes Bonus.

The delivery of new homes and the introduction of new residents will also help support existing local businesses, services and groups.

Research conducted by Onepoll on behalf of Barratt Homes in 2014 suggested that the average homeowner spends approximately £5,500 within 18 months of moving to make the property “feel like home”. First occupation expenditure typically involves furnishing and decorating a property and will generate a range of economic benefits for the local immediate economy by supporting jobs within local businesses.

Catesby Selected As Preferred Land Promoter For Five Ash Down, East Sussex

Catesby Estates has been selected as the preferred land promoter for a 12.4 acre greenfield site in Five Ash Down, just two kilometres north of Uckfield, East Sussex.

Sustainable Location For New Homes In Five Ash Down

The site is in a sustainable location off the A272 which links directly with the A26 Uckfield bypass providing good access to the wide range of facilities and services within the area.

Cooper's Row which achieved a resolution to grant for 40 new homes in 2022 lies immediately to the north of the site.

Land Secured By Catesby's In-house Land Promotion Team

Andy Wright, Senior Land Manager for Catesby Estates said; “We will be working closely with Wealden District Council and other local stakeholders to bring this site forward to deliver a sensitively designed and sustainable residential development.”

Newton LLP acted as the landowner’s agents.

Have Your Say

Site Specifics

13.9 Acre Site (5.6 Hectares)
Delivery Of New Homes For The Area
New Homes. Up to 80 new homes with a mix of house sizes and types, ranging from 1 to 4 bed houses to meet local policy requirements and identified need.
Affordable Housing. 35% affordable housing. Affordable housing is a combination of discounted rent, discounted sale (for first time buyers) and shared ownership housing, provided to eligible households whose needs are not met by the market.

This will assist those looking for their first home, and lower income individuals and families get on the housing ladder in Five Ash Down.

This is particularly pertinent in Five Ash Down, where the average house price over the last year was £467,500 (Zoopla) compared to the UK average of £294,329 (Land Registry).
Play Areas. New public open space including children’s play equipment. Open space on the site totals 6.6 acres which equates to 48% of the site.
Highways and Access. The main vehicular access is proposed to the south of the site from the A272. It is proposed to serve the site via a new simple priority junction which would be designed to meet local and national standards.

It is proposed to provide improvements to the footway connection along the A272 from the site towards Uckfield and the nearby bus stops.

Further improvements to connectivity and bus stops improvements will be discussed with the Local Highway Authority.
Heritage and Archaeology. No statutory designated heritage assets are located within the site. Within a c. 300m radius of the site is Buxted Park, a Registered Park and Garden and four listed buildings, the most proximate being the Grade II listed Coopers Green House.

It is not anticipated that development of the site will have an adverse effect on the setting or significance of these heritage assets.

There is a low potential for archaeological remains or features from all past periods to be located within the site.
Ecology. Whilst we have seen evidence of wildlife on site, the fields are used for agricultural purposes.

A range of wildlife friendly features will also be incorporated, for example bat and bird boxes, in addition to soft landscaping which will include habitats such as grasslands featuring wildflower and large vegetative buffers.

The retained vegetation would be enhanced and managed to maximise its landscape and ecological value.
Sustainability and Climate Change. Homes both new and existing account for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.

The homes will be designed in accordance with the Government’s Interim Future Homes Standard, which requires a 31% improvement over the current Part L 2013 standard.

A range of measures will be implemented to reduce energy use and carbon emissions, in line with the energy hierarchy, and complying with national and local policy. The detailed design will consider:
- Design to promote passive solar gains, maximise natural daylight, sunlight and ventilation
- High levels of insulation and air tightness
- Use of high efficiency heating systems appropriate to the building use to reduce energy consumption
- Specification of high energy efficient equipment that will use less energy and water
- Electric vehicle charging for all homes contributing to sustainable transport
- Delivering a net gain in biodiversity which will help site habitats and species adapt to climate change
- A surface water drainage strategy which utilises Sustainable Drainage Systems and allowances for climate change to protect against flood risk
Flooding and Drainage. The site is located in Flood Zone 1, the lowest probability of fluvial flooding, and classified as being at a low or very low risk of surface water flooding.