Public Consultation July 2021 - Planning application for new local convenience goods store at The Highlands Inn, Eastbourne Road, Uckfield ...
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Public Consultation July 2021 Planning application for new local convenience goods store at The Highlands Inn, Eastbourne Road, Uckfield SmartParc
Public Consultation July 2021
Introduction
Thank you on behalf of PH Land & Developments for visiting this website and for your interest in their new planning
application for a convenience store in the car park of The Highlands Inn, Eastbourne Road, Uckfield. You will be able to
see the background to the scheme and the proposals themselves in the following pages.
On the website there is a comments form for you to fill in and some questions that we would appreciate your answers to.
It is not mandatory to fill this in but we would appreciate any comments you have so that these can be considered as
part of the planning process on conjunction with the submission of the application to Wealden District Council.
SmartParc
Public Consultation July 2021 Background Many of you will be familiar with a previous planning application submitted to Wealden District Council in 2014 for a convenience store on the same site. That planning application was recommended for approval by Planning Officers but the District Council’s Planning Committee voted to refuse the application. A planning appeal against this refusal was considered by a Planning Inspector who dismissed the appeal in 2015 – but only on design grounds. The new planning application currently being prepared responds to the criticisms of the Planning Inspector. Formal pre- application discussions with Wealden District Council and Government planning guidance confirm that the correct approach to determining the application is to consider whether the proposals address the Inspector’s design criticisms as there have been no other material changes in planning circumstances since 2015. This is confirmed by the Wealden District Council’s Development Manager in pre-application correspondence, which reads as follows: “As you know, the NPPG [National Planning Policy Guidance] sets out that where an Inspector has issued a decision and indicated an issue to be acceptable, it is unreasonable for an LPA [local planning authority] not to follow that. The caveat is that there is a material change in circumstances. No such change exists here.” Therefore, as the Planning Inspector refused permission on design grounds only, namely the scale, massing and materials of the proposed new convenience store building, the key issue for comment is whether the new emerging proposals address those concerns. In accordance with Government policy, it is not legitimate to raise concerns on other matters than design that the Inspector considered and concluded were not sufficient to refuse permission, for example, highway issues, planning policy and parking proposals. The key extracts of the Planning Inspector’s comments are provided on the following page.
Public Consultation July 2021
Planning Inspector’s Comments on Design
“8. The building would be approximately 1500mm from the site boundary at its north-eastern corner, and around
2500mm from the north-western boundary. The corners of the northern elevation of the building would be
immediately adjacent to the bottom of the existing bank around the site. The building would dominate the public
footway in around this part of the site, together with views from New Town Road. The store would be a discordant,
bulky addition to the street scene.
9. There is no uniformity of design, layout or architectural style in the immediate area. Nonetheless, it is predominantly
residential in character, although there is an engineering works nearby in Eastbourne Road. While glimpses of a large
brick building to the rear of the engineering works are visible from the public domain, the frontage of the works is in
keeping with its setting. By contrast, the height and bulk of the convenience store, with its coloured profiled sheeting
roof, would be a dominant feature in a highly visible location.
10. The design of the proposed convenience store has evolved through proactive discussions between the appellant and
the Council’s officers, but the elected councillors are entitled to reach a different conclusion. In this instance, the
proposed building would fail to reinforce the local character, which derives from the mainly domestically scaled
buildings, the use of traditional materials, including bricks, brown roof tiles, painted render, painted window
frames and red tile hanging, and the abundant planting between the dwellings and the highway. It would, therefore,
be materially harmful to the character and appearance of the area. It would conflict policy WCS14 of the Core
Strategy Local Plan (2013), which provides, among other things, that the planning permission will be granted unless
material considerations indicate otherwise.“
Highlands Inn, Eastbourne Road, Ridgewood, Uckfield Appeal Decision, dated 24 June 2015 (Planning Inspectorate Ref.
APP/C1435/W/14/300195)Public Consultation July 2021
The Proposals – Proposed Site Layout
RETAINED
PUB
DECK EXTENSION AT
GROUND LEVEL
The north elevation of the new convenience store
REINFORCED
has been moved away from the existing bank
GROUND
around the site (see dashed red outline for previous
proposed location). This, coupled with a reduction in
OUTLINE OF PREVIOUS
PROPOSALS
the scale and massing of the building shown later in
N
this document means the building will not dominate
the public footway or views from New Town Road.
SmartParcPublic Consultation July 2021
The Proposals
The new convenience store will be operated by a national convenience goods retailer who would like to come to Uckfield.
The key elements of the store’s operation are:
• The store will be open 7am to 11pm on a daily basis and 7am to 4pm on Sundays.
• It will employ up to 20 people who will all be recruited locally.
• It will provide a good range of fresh food products including fruit and vegetables; milk and dairy products; fresh baked
goods; cooked and uncooked meats and fish. There will also be a range of cooking ingredients; snacks; kitchen
essentials and cleaning products. The store will also provide a range of wines; beers and spirits and non-alcoholic
drinks.
• Deliveries will take place within store opening hours in a dedicated servicing area immediately adjacent to the store.
The new store will be smaller than previously proposed - reduced from 390 sqm to 353 sqm. However, the number of
parking spaces combined between pub and store has remained the same (64 spaces).
The drawings on the following page show a comparison between the new proposed appearance of the store and the
previous scheme.
SmartParcPublic Consultation July 2021
The Proposals – East Elevation (facing Eastbourne Road)
In response to the Planning
Outline of previous proposals
Inspector’s reference to a
domestic scaled, proportioned
building with traditional materials,
the following changes have been
made:
• The bulk, scale and massing of
the building has been reduced
as the red line on the adjacent
New proposals
drawing shows.
• The bare brick has been
replaced with a mix of painted
brickwork and timber cladding.
• The coloured aluminum sheet
roofing has been changed to
traditional clay tiles.
• The roof’s massing has also
been reduced.
Previous proposals
SmartParcPublic Consultation July 2021
The Proposals – West Elevation (facing Lewes Road)
Outline of previous proposals
Again, in response to the
Planning Inspector’s comments
on the previous design, the
following changes have been
made to the Lewes Road
elevation:
• The bulk, scale and massing of
the building has been
reduced. New proposals
• The bare brickwork has been
replaced with a mix of painted
brickwork and timber cladding.
• The coloured aluminum sheet
roofing has been changed to
traditional clay tiles.
• The roof’s massing has also
been reduced.
Previous proposalsPublic Consultation July 2021
The Proposals – Side Elevations
The drawings below show the improvements made to the north elevation to enhance views from New Town Road,
addressing the Planning Inspector’s comments this on this matter. An indicative image view from New Town Road
towards the site has also been provided below.
The palette of traditional materials selected for the front and rear elevations have been continued on the side elevations.
New proposals - north elevation facing New Town Road New proposals - south elevation facing pub
Indicative image view from New Town RoadPublic Consultation July 2021
The Proposals – Highways & Parking
The proposed highway access on Eastbourne Road and exit on Lewes Road are the same as the previous planning
application, which the local highway authority did not object to.
The convenience store has reduced in size since the previous planning application, however the number of spaces to
serve the pub and convenience store (64 spaces) are the same as the previous parking proposals. Parking surveys have
been carried out pre-Covid by an independent survey company. These surveys conclude there is adequate parking for
the pub and the new convenience store as they operate at different peak hours. The parking proposals also accord with
East Sussex County Council’s parking guidelines for new development.
There have been no material change in circumstances in highways/parking terms since the 2015 appeal decision where
Planning Inspector did not consider highway and parking issues to be grounds to refuse planning permission.
SmartParcPublic Consultation July 2021
The Proposals – Pub Improvements & Landscaping
The new proposals include extensive
soft landscaping along the site’s
boundaries. The proposals will
incorporate improvements to the
beer garden of the retained pub,
including providing new low level
decking and wood chipped area. In
addition, parking facilities for the pub
will be improved with re-surfacing and
defined parking spaces.
The existing war memorial located
near the Eastbourne Road boundary
will be relocated within the site (see
proposed site layout plan).
Complementary landscaping will
provide an appropriate setting for the
memorial. The memorial is shown
indicatively on proposed site layout
on the Lewes Road boundary.
However, discussions with the Town
Council regarding the new position
for the memorial are ongoing.
SmartParcPublic Consultation July 2021
Your Views
PH Land & Developments would be pleased to hear your views on the emerging revised proposals. These views
though should be concentrated on the matters that the appeal Inspector refused permission on, i.e. design and
appearance of the proposed new store.
Once the application is lodged with Wealden District Council there will be the opportunity for anybody to
comment direct to the District Council. PH Land & Developments will be monitoring the responses received in
relation to this consultation exercise and when the application is ultimately lodged.
In order to express your opinion or comment further please could you leave any comments on the form within
this website.
The website consultation will remain live until 5pm on 30th July 2021.
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