Now is the time for Battle residents to have a say on the Blackfriars development

Two weeks ago Rother staged a consultation in Battle about a road which will unlock the potential to develop around 240 houses on the highly controversial Blackfriars site in Battle.

This site is off Marley Lane. Many who attended commented that they only knew about the consultation because of a leaflet our Lib Dem team had circulated.

Unknown, we suspect, to the majority of your Battle readers, there is still an opportunity to view the plans and comment on line. Feed back was only to be available until today, February 22, but as this was not mentioned on the Rother Alert Service we have obtained agreement that all submissions over this coming weekend will be taken into account. See the “news” section on Rother’s website.

We all know that Battle needs more affordable homes for our young families, but it is clear to anyone familiar with this site that there are very good reasons it has not been developed in the 50 plus years since it was first designated for building.

Apart from the steep gradient and ancient woodland it is an area rich in flora and fauna.

There are also numerous issues around traffic, schools, medical and dental capacity, noise and light pollution…

It does seem inevitable that some development will now go ahead at Blackfriars. But it is imperative that local residents voice their concerns NOW when planning is in its early stages.

As your representatives at Rother we can make sure that your views are given full weight as plans develop. If residents do not speak up now it will be much harder to change things later.