CONCERNS have been raised over proposals to allocate previously rejected or discounted sites for future housing development across Bexhill and rural Rother.
Councillors challenged the proposed site allocations during the latest meeting of Rother District Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The concerns centre on land in areas including Sidley and Bexhill West, with councillors questioning why some sites have returned after previously being refused, discounted, deemed unviable or not taken forward.
A motion raising concerns about the recommendation from council officers was proposed by Councillor John Barnes and supported by Councillors Connor Winter, Carl Maynard, Eleanor Kirby-Green and Mary Barnes.
However, the committee ultimately voted to proceed with the officer recommendation.
Cllr Winter said the council needed to explain what had changed in planning terms to make the sites suitable for consideration.
He said: “Some of these sites have previously been refused, discounted, not taken forward or identified as unviable. The question is simple: what has changed in planning terms?
“In many cases, the answer is very little.”
He argued that pressure created by the Government’s housing target for Rother should not result in unsuitable or unsustainable sites being revived.
Cllr Winter added: “I support building the homes Rother needs. But housing numbers cannot come before proper planning, infrastructure and the character of our communities.
“Bexhill has a right to sustainable, properly planned growth — not development driven solely by a national numbers game.”
A Local Plan sets out where new homes, employment space and other development could be built over a specified period. It also establishes the planning policies used by the council when deciding future applications.
The allocation of a site within the plan does not amount to planning permission, and individual proposals would still need to go through the planning process. However, allocation can establish the principle that development may be acceptable and can significantly influence future decisions.
