Stone Cross could be getting 90 new houses

Persimmon Homes South East has submitted plans to Wealden District Council (WDC) to build 90 homes on land east of Hailsham Road and north of Peelings Lane, Stone Cross.

Plans say: “The site is located in a central position on the north-western edge of Stone Cross in a sustainable location with good access to shops, schools, bus services and other facilities. Peeling Lane is a well-used foot and cycle way that links Stone Cross with Westham.”

Back in February 2021 the outline application (reference: WD/2017/1063/MAO) was approved for a development of up to 90 homes with vehicular access onto Hailsham Road. Since then there have been pre-application meetings with WDC and now Persimmon has submitted the application for reserved matters - appearance, landscaping, layout, and scale.

Currently the land is used as agricultural grazing land but if approved, a mix of houses and four apartment blocks would be built. It would have a mix of units with up to four bedrooms and 35 per cent of the units would be affordable housing. Apartments would have a shared outdoor space and all houses would have private rear gardens. There would also be play areas and green spaces running throughout the site.

According to the plans, there would be a total of 204 parking spaces, including 30 visitor spaces. There would also be charging points for electric vehicles, and cycle storage.

The plans say: “Once within the site, a clear street hierarchy is proposed, including a tree-lined, primarily vehicular route which will run west to east across the northern section of the site. Secondary streets will then spur off the primary road from north to south, to provide access to clusters of dwellings of varying typologies.

“The proposed scheme is considered to make effective use of the land and in the planning balance, the provision of 90 units should be recognised as a valuable and important

contribution in helping the council to meet its housing land supply target.

“The proposed layout of the units has been sensitively designed to not have a detrimental impact on existing or proposed residential amenity.”

Members of the public can comment on the plans until February 24 (reference: WD/2022/2974/MRM).

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