Goldbridge Farm

Housing demand in Britain, and especially the south east, continues to grow. Whilst the immediate housing market may have peaks and troughs, the overall trend has consistently been, and remains upwards. The Government is determined to increase supply and Lewes Council have an obligation to meet the demand that exists in Lewes. This is currently assessed as meaning 600 new homes are needed each year simply to keep up.

• New local residents will mean new customers for local shops, pubs, restaurants. It will mean additional support for local events, clubs and societies.

• Over 16 hectares of entirely new publicly accessible open space. This would include play areas, footpaths, woodlands, trim trails and nature conservation areas. This is currently private farmland and would become an entirely new asset for the village.

• The development will make a Community Infrastructure Levy Contribution (CIL) in the region of £3,000,000 of which 25% will go to the Parish Council. This can be used to upgrade community facilities, schools, health facilities and more.

Yes, it is. However, because Lewes Council currently do not have 5 years supply of housing land to deliver the required 600 dwellings a year, the boundaries set out in the local plan are no longer applicable. Lewes need housing delivery to catch up before they can start to apply such policies again.

The Neighbourhood Plan is now 8 years old and no longer in date. Neighbourhood Plans are required to be in line with the Local Plan and this means helping to deliver the housing need identified for the district.

The site assessment is an early stage in the Local Plan process and additional land will be needed, over and above those site identified in the previous assessment, in order to meet the need identified in the area. This means additional site will have to come forwards.

The Council’s new Local Plan is years away from adoption and people need housing now.

There are no brownfield sites in Newick on Lewes District Council’s Brownfield Register (2022) Regulation 18 Local Plan states “Greenfield land in the most sustainable  locations adjacent to existing built-up areas will also have to be included to meet the assessed development need.” . Of all the brownfield sites available in Lewes, 1,535 homes could be built – only 12.7% of the Council’s total housing requirement by 2040. In contrast, only 7.7% of Lewes District is developed land, providing a much larger scope for land use for housing, whilst leaving much of the natural environment untouched.

Newick has taken comparatively little development when compared to other settlements in the same (or even lower) category in the Council’s Settlement hierarchy. Newick is a logical and sustainable location for new housing growth.

Yes, 40% of the new homes provided will be affordable homes. In the five-year period, spanning 2013/14-2017/18, Lewes District Council failed to meet the identified need of affordable housing by over 80% every year.

The 40 per cent affordable housing provided will meet the definition of affordable housing set out in the National Planning Policy Framework which states:

 “Affordable housing: housing for sale or rent, for those whose needs are not met by the market (including housing that provides a subsidised route to home ownership and/or is for essential local workers); and which complies with one or more of the following definitions: 

1. Affordable housing for rent: meets all of the following conditions: (a) the rent is set in accordance with the Government’s rent policy for Social Rent or Affordable Rent, or is at least 20% below local market rents (including service charges where applicable); (b) the landlord is a registered provider, except where it is included as part of a Build to Rent scheme (in which case the landlord need not be a registered provider); and (c) it includes provisions to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households, or for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision. For Build to Rent schemes affordable housing for rent is expected to be the normal form of affordable housing provision (and, in this context, is known as Affordable Private Rent). 

2. Starter homes: is as specified in Sections 2 and 3 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and any secondary legislation made under these sections. The definition of a starter home should reflect the meaning set out in statute and any such secondary legislation at the time of plan-preparation or decision-making. Where secondary legislation has the effect of limiting a household’s eligibility to purchase a starter home to those with a particular maximum level of household income, those restrictions should be used. 

3. Discounted market sales housing: is that sold at a discount of at least 20% below local market value. Eligibility is determined with regard to local incomes and local house prices. Provisions should be in place to ensure housing remains at a discount for future eligible households. 

4. Other affordable routes to home ownership: is housing provided for sale that provides a route to ownership for those who could not achieve home ownership through the market. It includes shared ownership, relevant equity loans, other low cost homes for sale (at a price equivalent to at least 20% below local market value) and rent to buy (which includes a period of intermediate rent). Where public grant funding is provided, there should be provisions for the homes to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households, or for any receipts to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision, or refunded to Government or the relevant authority specified in the funding agreement.”

The development will make a Community Infrastructure Levy Contribution (CIL) in the region of £3,000,000 of which 25% will go to the Parish Council. This can be used to upgrade community facilities, schools, health facilities and more. Housing developments are required to provide funding to address their impact on community infrastructure. the level of this financial payment is set by the council, it is non-negotiable and the developer is not involved in setting it.

We emailed the Parish Council seeking to meet with them to discuss the development and potential benefits it could bring to the village but we were told the Parish Council do not normally meet with applicants prior to an application being submitted. They have chosen to maintain this position. We look forward to engaging with them once an application has been submitted.

The applicant is entitled to appeal against this decision or reapply for an amended scheme. We firmly believe the site is suitable for housing, and it is worth noting that so far in 2023, Lewes District Council has spent over £650,000 defending major residential appeals. It has won just 3 of 12 thus far and their refusal of planning permission was deemed so unreasonable on three of those occasions that it was instructed to pay the developers costs as well as their own.

The development will include sustainable technologies such as Air Source Heat Pumps and Fast Charge car sockets. Energy efficiency will be in the very fabric of the homes using enhanced insulation and underfloor heating.

The development seeks to enhance biodiversity on site by creating new habitats within open space as well as enhancing existing habitat. The proposal will result in thousands of trees being plants, creating new woodland for wildlife. The current agricultural use of the land has a very low ecological value which presents an opportunity to incorporate ecological enhancements in to the proposal.