Wealden Council Set To Make Decision On Horam Homes

The next stage of a Horam housing development is set to go back in front of Wealden councillors.

On Thursday (June 19), Wealden District Council’s Majors Planning Committee is due to consider a reserved matters application connected with proposals to build 46 homes on land to the east of the Rosemead Estate in Horebeech Lane.

The scheme, from developer Matthew Homes Limited, secured outline planning permission at appeal last year, meaning the principle of development on the site has already been established.

The current application — seeking approval for the scheme’s layout, scale, appearance and landscaping — had previously been considered by councillors in March.

At the time, councillors opted to defer in order to seek further information about the height of the buildings, parking and upgrades proposed by Southern Water.

It had been due to be discussed again last month, but constitutional changes resulted in a delay.

Prior to these constitutional changes, the council had operated two area-based planning committees — Planning Committee South and Planning Committee North — which split their responsibilities based on the location of applications.

The council is now operating two planning committees, which split their responsibilities based on the size and scale of proposals.

One committee only considers major planning applications, while the other only considers minor planning applications.

As a result of the changes, the council cancelled the meeting of Planning Committee South where the scheme was to be discussed.

This meeting had been due to take place on Thursday (May 15).

In a report to the committee, officers note how the scheme has seen amendments following the deferral.

These include additional tree planting, changes to the roof pitches of the development and some further details of how construction traffic will access the site.

While recommended for approval, the scheme has seen objections raised from some local residents which cover a range of issues, including the design of the properties and the size of the homes.

Objectors have also raised concerns about whether Horam’s foul sewer network would be able to cope with the additional homes.

Officers say these concerns are not directly tied to the reserved matters application, as the issue has already been addressed through conditions attached to the outline planning permission.

These conditions require the council to receive and approve details of the foul sewage system’s capacity prior to any of the homes becoming occupied.

For further information on the plans see application reference WD/2024/2006/MRM on the Wealden District Council website.