Modular 307 home development on edge of Burgess Hill approved

Outline consent for 325 dwellings on the former sewage treatment works in Fairbridge Way, just north of the town’s rubbish tip, was first granted by Mid Sussex District Council back in 2014, but a revised permission was also approved last year.

The site is now being delivered as 100 per cent affordable housing, with dwellings constructed off site in the applicant’s factory and transferred to site in modular form, for final installation.

A number of the development’s internal roads have already been constructed and work is ongoing to improve the two existing mini-roundabouts.

A reserved matters application for the scheme, outlining the detailed layout and design of the homes, was approved by the council’s district planning committee on Thursday (March 17) subject to further information required from the Environment Agency.

Officers believed the dominance of proposed parking arrangements would result in a ‘hard-edged scheme and there were concerns about the lack of a central focus within the development as well as an over reliance on render as a finishing material on the majority of the units.

However they did recommend the scheme for approval, highlighting previous issues with the delivery of the site, constraints on its layout and limitations due to the modular nature of the build process.

Anne Eves, Green district councillor for Burgess Hill – Leylands, described how she voted in favour ‘between gritted teeth’ due to the consideration of 307 affordable homes on a brownfield site ‘avoiding yet more destruction of the countryside’.

She appreciated it is a modular development, which is more sustainable and quicker than traditional modes of building and acknowledged the constraints Ilke Homes is operating under.

But she ‘deplored’ the fact renewables will only be incorporated into phase three and suggested this was not just about reducing carbon emissions, but also the quickest route to reducing dependency on foreign gas. She also questioned where solar panels would go as very few roofs will face south or south-west.

She described a footpath/cycleway to the south-east as crucial as homes will have no shop or school on site.

Ms Eves also raised the design review panel’s objection to the scheme due to a lack of a central focus, predominance of render and dominance of the car parking arrangements.

She also regretted the fact the play area is right by the traffic queue to the tip and that there will be no garages, suggesting the bike sheds at the bottom of the gardens will be used for tools and storage rather than promoting cycling into town.

She also criticised the lack of bus stops and no plans to have a service coming through the new development.

She concluded: “Back in say 2004, when driving to the tip, I would take my binoculars and do some birdwatching from the car as we queued, as it was a great nature reserve. Then decontamination happened, the site was cleared, and the developers will be able to count their ‘biodiversity net gain’ from after that, so they’ll be able to point to a gain where in fact there has been a great loss over the last twenty years.”

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