Planners approve Hastings affordable housing scheme

On Wednesday (November 8), Hastings Borough Council’s planning committee approved a reserved matters application connected with plans to build 16 houses on land to the rear of 419 to 447 Bexhill Road.

The scheme, which comes from the council itself, was granted outline planning permission back in June 2019. This followed an earlier refusal of the scheme due to concerns around flooding and drainage, as the land is in a high risk flood zone.

A report to the committee acknowledges that some details of these drainage concerns are still to be resolved, but officers say these matters — likely to include reinforcement works by Southern Water — could be handled through conditions.

While some councillors raised concerns about this element of the scheme, the committee as a whole ultimately agreed to grant planning permission.

The proposals include a ‘rain garden’, which is intended to collect surface water runoff. This is a new inclusion, which had not been part of the outline scheme.

There are some other significant differences from the outline plans. Indicative plans from the outline stage showed the 16 houses arranged in eight semi-detached pairs. The final proposals are for a single terrace instead.

The new layout also includes a large wildflower meadow and a community garden space, which would be in addition to private terraces for each of the properties.

The original scheme had also been for a mix of affordable and market housing, while the final proposals are for a 100 per cent affordable scheme.

Also new are the plans for the scheme to be of a modular construction. This means the buildings would be put together off-site — at the Boutique Modern factory in Newhaven — before being transported and assembled on the land.

The final site is to be a mix of eight two-bedroom houses and eight one-bedroom houses, all to be allocated to households on the council’s housing register.

For further information see application reference HS/DS/22/00912 on the Hastings Borough Council website.