Public Inquiry - residential development - Cooden, Bexhill-on-Sea, 2019

Client:           Bellway Opposition Action Group (BOAG)
LPA:              Rother District Council
Developer:    Bellway

Acting as expert landscape witness on behalf of BOAG who were a Rule 6 Party at the Inquiry, for proposed development of 85 dwellings on environmentally sensitive rural land adjoining the western edge of the town.

Key issues included landscape and visual impact, hydrology, impact on the Pevensey Levels, highways issues including pedestrian safety, heritage impacts, character and amenity of the settlement edge and local area.

The Inquiry was held November 2019 and the decision (ref 3234340) was issued February 2020.  

The Inspector accepted that the development would result in landscape harm and erosion of the countryside, and that this carried significant weight in the decision, and also accepted that there would be detriment to the living conditions of local residents due to noise and disturbance. However, she considered that the lack of a 5-year housing land supply, coupled with the strongly envionmentally constrained nature of the district, weighed heavily in the balance, and allowed the appeal.