'Leave our country lanes alone'

Rydon Homes Limited has announced its intention to build a collection of one, two, three and four-bedroomed homes on land at Beechwood Lane.

The developers have contacted Lewes District Council to seek a pre-application meeting with council officers in regards to the proposal.

In the letter, planning manager for Rydon Homes Limited, Christopher Sampson, said: “The site was identified within the joint Lewes/South Downs National Park Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment 2014 as potentially suitable for development, one of only three sites positively identified in Cooksbridge.

“One of these has since been granted permission for 25 units. The other, land south of Beechwood Lane, has been identified as amenity space within the draft Hamsey Neighbourhood Plan. This leaves the proposed site as the only remaining suitable site within the settlement.

“The proposed site is very well related to the village and its services. It is ideally placed for access on foot to the railway station. The village also has a primary school, village hall and recreation ground. The site has the potential to improve access to and between these key facilities.”

The point of access would be in the form of a priority junction from Beechwood Lane and a pedestrian connection would be made to the footpath which runs adjacent to the northern site boundary.

However, Mavis Clark has said a number of villagers have contacted her to express their concern at the initial plans.

She said: “In what was once a lovely country lane, which has already become urbanised with the installation of a concrete footpath which caused a lot of controversy and upset for some residents, I have now received calls showing concern for more proposed development with an application for 23 dwellings to be constructed in the field opposite the village hall. For that amount of dwellings and with most families having two cars, that would probably mean another 50 vehicles using the lane which was previously considered unsafe, hence the argument from some people to have a pavement installed.

“Leave our country lanes alone, otherwise more of our precious countryside will turn into a concrete jungle.”

The documents can be found under SDNP/16/00749/PRE on the SDNPA website.

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