Affordable housing boost for South Downs National Park
January 9, 2025
A major development that will bring much-needed affordable homes is a step closer to coming to fruition.
Three years ago the National Park Authority granted outline planning permission for 226 homes – with half of them being affordable – at Old Malling Farm, Lewes.
Now the specific design, scale, layout and appearance of the development have been agreed following approval by Planning Committee.
The 10-hectare site will include 10 new flats, 96 two-bed houses, 93 three-bed houses and 27 four-bed houses. Of the 113 affordable homes, 10 will be Lewes Low-Cost Housing and the others a mixture of affordable rent and shared ownership.
The design features of the development have been praised, such as retaining and improving landscape features, views and vistas to create a sense of place, making the site pedestrian and cycling friendly, and having the dwellings in clusters to allow for generous green spaces.
Landscape Officer Ruth Childs said: “The site offers enormous opportunities to bring about a positive landscape change associated with the development. The onus has been on creating a high-quality public realm, functional open spaces and semi-natural habitats to help the site integrate into its context.”
The green spaces include “pocket parks” in the southern part of the site which include equipment and community growing spaces. The site will deliver over 30 per cent biodiversity net gain from the creation and improvement of wildlife habitats.
Vicki Colwell, Principal Planning Officer, said: “This is a landscape-led development that is really responding to its National Park location with well-linked and generous green spaces that are diverse in character.
“Ultimately we want to help create sustainable places that people will want to live in and enjoy for generations to come and I think we’ve achieved that here.”
The previous outline permission secured £1.7million towards highway and access improvements.
