LAND AT COOPERS GREEN ROAD, Ringles Cross, Uckfield, TN22 3AA

a residential care home

Authority: Wealden District Council
Appeal type: major · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: community-institutional · Major retail and services
Inspector: McDonald K

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

the effect of the development on the character and appearance of the area
the effect of the development on heritage assets

What decided it

The substantial public benefits of providing 50 specialist care home bed spaces to meet an acute and evidenced national need for elderly care accommodation outweighed the less than substantial harm to the heritage setting of Buxted Park.

The less than substantial harm to the setting of the Grade II* listed Buxted Park Registered Park and Garden and associated heritage assets was outweighed by the substantial public benefits of meeting an acute need for care home accommodation, freeing up family homes in a district lacking five-year housing land supply, providing specialist care with potential health and social services cost savings, and moderate benefits from sustainability, employment, biodiversity net gain and public transport improvements.

Plan policies cited: Policy EN27, Policy EN1, Policy EN15, Policy WCS12

Read the decision letter on the Inspectorate’s site

The main issues and the deciding factor are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.

What an account adds

Draw a red line around your site and the appraisal follows.

Heritage. Listed buildings by grade and distance, conservation areas, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, heritage at risk.
Landscape and environment. Green belt, national parks and national landscapes, SSSIs, ancient woodland, SPA, SAC and Ramsar sites, nutrient catchments.
Flooding. Flood zones 2 and 3, surface water, and both again with climate change.
Transport. The 800 metre station catchment and service frequency, bus stops with their weekday frequency, the cycle network, and the Framework’s transport tests measured for the site.

Then the development plan position, the housing land supply as an Inspector last accepted it, and every appeal decided around the site with its letter.

Every English appeal since 2016, with the letter behind it wherever the Inspectorate published one. Searched by meaning as well as by words, with the key case law counted live across the letters.

Casework that chases the deadlines. Applications, appeals and conditions with their statutory dates.

The judgement stays yours. The tool gathers the material and dates it.