Extraordinary news from the webcast live inside the Wealden Council planning meeting, The planing application to build the 3 storey block of flats here in the heart of Pevensey Bay on the Beach Tavern site, has been refused, outright.—Bay Life, 20 July 2017
Not a single councillor voted in favour of the development, with one abstention.
Local district councillor, Dianne Dear (who is also the publisher of Bay Life), but not entitled to vote because she is a sitting councillor for the village, spoke for the parishioners and the people of the village when she pointed out at the beginning of the discussion that the proposed development was against the wishes of the village, indicating that there were 22 objections and a petition signed by 468 people against the proposed development and that the proposal was just too big.
On behalf of the objectors in the village, both Sara Cheesley who was on first, followed by Roger McCall, spoke, with their two minute allocated slot, to the point and with precision.
Sara Cheesley, explained that the scheme was based on greed. She pointed out that the design statement by the architect suggested that he was designing a building for a town, as she explained, Pevensey Bay is not a town. This point was also taken up by the chair of the planning committee at a later stage.
Roger McCall pointed to a simple fact. The officer report quoted the one admission in favour of the scheme, but not the 22 objections.
He was correct in making this point. With 22 objections to the proposal and only one in favour, how could the officer who delivered the report advising approval explain to the councillors why not a single mention was made of any of the objectors comments, and yet the single admission in favour of the proposal was quoted verbatim?
As councillors began to discuss the proposal, what became clear was that both the research and homework had been done with site visits. One councillor talked about her site visit that took her behind the proposed scheme, and the potential detriment that she saw to the buildings behind the proposal and to the small cottages to one side of the proposed building.
The officer report had entirely ignored the shock dominance of the building, as seen from walking towards the block of three storey flats from the Eastboure Road, the direction and sightline that would be seen by the majority of both residents and visitors alighting on the scene. Out of shot of the webcast, a councillor projected a superimposed image of how the building would look to silence from the councillors.
A very big thank you to each and every person in the village that fought this long campaign so hard and so well. The life of Pevensey Bay as a small distinct village will continue.
On 8 May 2017, Martin Beeney, who lives just 8.6 metres away from the proposed development with his family, said, “it will be the beginning of the end for the village if this building goes ahead”.
What he said stands as testament to every single villager that stood up and fought this campaign.
His granddaughter, we understand from the family, has a room in their cottage on the first floor that fills with light in the morning.
If this proposed building had gone ahead, her room and her life would have been within darkness every morning, with a three storey building looming over her every day.
That room will continue to fill with the light of the summer mornings here in Pevensey Bay.
To District Councillor Dianne Dear, to the Beeney family, to Sara Cheesley, to Roger McCall, to every single person involved in this campaign, many congratulations, and may the light of the summer mornings here in Pevensey Bay continue to fill this beautiful, quirky corner of Sussex with the light to come not just for the granddaughter of the Beeney family, but for the generations to come.
Congratulations Pevensey Bay, you beat the developers.
Full report of webcast and decision: Bay Life the Journal, the hyperlocal newspaper for Pevensey Bay, coming soon.
“How Pevensey Village beat the developers”
