Hastings residents and the police are voicing concerns as a local charity scrutinises a plan for 65 new homes at Sandrock Bends, a land adjacent to woodlands.
Hastings Borough Council is urged to remove the proposed Sandrock Bends development site from the latest draft of its local plan, after St. Helens Preservation Society findings point to the significant impacts on the woodland’s protected habitats and water systems.
Christine Aitken, Chair of the St. Helen’s Park Preservation Society, said:
“We are seeing first hand-hand how nationally driven housing targets are filtering down into local planning decisions, placing increasing pressure on sites that communities have spent generations protecting. Once habitats like these are damaged, they cannot simply be recreated elsewhere.”
Located directly next to St. Helen Woods, the environmentally sensitive site has raised close to 1,000 objections from local residents, highlighting potential challenges related to public services, specifically GP practices, traffic congestion, and local schools’ capacity.
“Hastings has recently seen the construction of over 300 social housing units off Harrow Lane, yet no corresponding investment has been made in essential infrastructure,” writes Avalin White, a petitioner, while others highlight the lack of parking spaces, the risk of traffic congestion, and the disruption to access at the Conquest Hospital.
In an email to Council Planning Department, Jane Thatcher, Joint Commercial Planning Manager for Sussex and Surrey Police, said:
“The large numbers of housing being developed across Sussex and more specifically within Hastings Borough, will place a significant additional demand upon our police service.
“This development will place permanent, on-going demands on Sussex Police which cannot be fully shouldered by direct taxation,” adding that the development will create an additional demand upon the Police Service.
According to the charity, councils across England are facing increasing pressure to identify land for housing following the Government’s planning reforms, including the restoration of mandatory housing targets, and wider commitment to deliver 1.5 million new homes during this Parliament.
Heritage Assessment, paid for by the developer Gladman
Developments Ltd., finds no potential for significant prehistoric archaeology.
But notes that the proposed development is expected to cause minor harm to The Lodge, a small building formerly associated with the Manor house at Ore Place, the remains of which are designated as a Scheduled Monument to the south of the site.
Chris Greatorex, Assistant County Archaeologist at East Sussex County Council, added:
“The Ordnance Survey of 1899 recorded the presence of a 19th century pump house in the north-west corner of the site. Any surviving below ground remains of this building are likely to be considered as a non-designated heritage asset.”
When asked whether they would oppose the development despite pressure from the government, a Hastings Borough Council spokesperson replied by email, saying:
“There is a live planning application that is currently being considered on this [development] site, so we are unable to comment.”
