Plan to build home on garden land in Hastings approved

On Wednesday (March 27), Hastings Borough Council’s planning committee considered an application seeking permission to build a two-bedroom bungalow on land to the rear of 66 Filsham Road.

The application had only been seeking outline planning permission, meaning some details of the scheme — in this case its layout and landscaping — would need to secure further consent before construction could begin.

Councillors expressed frustration about the proposals, saying they would have wanted further information about several elements, such as its drainage and design. Others raised concerns about overdevelopment of the site.Ultimately, however, the committee as a whole opted to approve the scheme, with several members arguing there were no strong grounds for refusal.

Proposing approval, Cllr Matthew Beaver (Con) said: “I always have a slight annoyance with an outline application coming up first simply because it allows the principal of a building to go on the site without really knowing what is going to be built there.“You have no idea what the size of it is going to be, you have no idea what the drainage is going to be, you have no idea what the outlook is going to be. But that is unfortunately the conditions we are under at the moment, so we have to accept it as it is.”

He added: “On a balance of the information we have I will propose that we accept this application.”

Cllr Maya Evans (HIG) shared similar concerns. She said: “I am not crazy about this development — the building on green spaces; the extra demand on drainage for the area; the loss of biodiversity.

“However, I don’t feel we have the sort of statutory powers to object to it. If we did object, I think we would potentially stepping out of line in terms of our framework.“I think this is a good example of just how national legislation and the national framework is letting us down in terms of being able to insist on better drainage and biodiversity net gain and all of these things.”

The proposals had proven to be unpopular with neighbours, who raised concerns about road safety, loss of privacy and overdevelopment of the site, among other matters.

Council planning officers took a different view, judging the scheme to have no significant impact on highway safety nor (due to its limited scale) have a detrimental impact in terms of privacy.

For further information on the proposals see application reference HS/OA/23/00697 on the Hastings Borough Council website.