** BREAKING NEWS: Application to develop the Beach Tavern site is once again absent from the Planning South meeting for Wealden Council that is to take place on 25 May.—Bay Life, 19 May 2017
This is the second time that the application has been absent from the relevant planning meeting, when there has been expectation that the community would at last hear whether the plan is to get the go ahead.
The decision has been made by Wealden Council, a spokesman speaking on behalf of Wealden Council told Bay Life this afternoon (19 May).
Given the fact that the Wealden Local Plan, in draft form, (published on 24 March) is now acting as a potential frame of reference in relation to so many planning issues in rural communities in the Wealden area, it will be interesting to see what bearing (If any) the draft publication will have on important development matters such as the Beach Tavern site.
As the climate of opinion about what is needed, necessary and of sustainable value to local businesses and residents changes, even if only in draft form, inevitably some of the questions that the report raises are already being asked.
The Wealden Local Plan is at an early stage and needs to go through a number of stages including full public consultation, this could take months, possibly even years, and of course we are about to see a General Election, which could see a new Secretary of State.
Nonetheless, in this state of flux, as the climate of opinion changes, so does the perception of big planning applications, and the plan to build the three storey complex of flats right in the heart of the business community here is about the biggest of all for us.
There is already a direct relationship between planning applications and the content of the Wealden Local Plan. This is manifestly obvious.
There is so much concern to the local community about the application, but clearly Wealden Council in the decision making process with regard to the plan needs to give the application the time required to prepare in full their view, before questions come to the relevant planning committee.
On April 8 a spokeswoman talking on behalf of Wealden Council told Bay Life, following the planning meeting held by Wealden Council on 29 March 2017, at which the development plan was withdrawn by Wealden Council, “this application is on hold, as a result of all the information that we have to assess as part of the new Wealden Local Plan”.
Of course an immediate question arises. If the Wealden Local Plan in draft form has no bearing on applications for development at this stage, why was the publication in draft form of the report cited as the reason for the absence of the application on the agenda on 29 March?
The spokeswoman at the time also suggested that residents could continue to object to the proposal.
Today a spokesman for Wealden Council confirmed that the application would not be on the agenda at the Planning South meeting to be held on 25 May.
He explained, “we need to give this application our full consideration” .
Are we seeing something simply procedural in this process, or is there more to the matter than is immediately obvious? The more time that passes in relation to this application, the more questions arise, These questions are unlikely to abate.
Hold the plan for the Beach Tavern site up to the light looking through the template of the Wealden Local Plan and what do you see? The answer is that there could not be a bigger mismatch.
Whilst this process continues, the whole community waits in anticipation with what will be the biggest planning decision for a generation in Pevensey Bay.
Martin Beeney, a local resident whose family home is 8.6 metres from the planned three storey development spoke for many local people when he said, “I think it will be the beginning of the end for the village if this building goes ahead”.
Bay Life will publish further details about this application as soon as more information become available.
Simon Montgomery
editor, Bay Life
