Lewes Coalition
Promoting Participation in PlanningLewes House
Planning permission already granted - social housing being built, private units pending (59 units, 24 social housing i.e. 40%)
There are some genuine social housing units here - 40% for rent rather than shared ownership. However, it has been segregated from the private housing. The Walwers Lane social housing site is confined to a restricted wall bound area with no vehicular access or parking space, and will consist of densely packed 2 and 3 storey blocks and roofs (currently being built). They will create an alleyway with the adjoining Printworks, parts of which they will overshadow to an unacceptable level (see details on BRE Daylight and Sunlight report), and the building will impact the historic Walwers Lane and Church Twitten.
Letter to Sussex Express Jan 2010
Never Again!
The recent closure of Church Twitten is an ominous reminder of why we formed The Lewes Coalition, in frustration at Lewes District Council’s apparent inability to listen to the voice of Lewes people or to safeguard what we all value about the historic heart of our town.
Sadly it is now too late to do anything to prevent the flint walls in Church Lane being broken open to allow development on the Walwer’s Lane site; one can only assume that the closure of the twitten signifies that work is about to start.
The planned housing will provide welcome affordable units for rent, but will destroy forever the special ambience of the twitten. When it re-emerges from its makeover, Church Twitten will be overhung not by trees but by 3 storey housing blocks. Parts of Walwers Lane will be transformed into a tunnel between 2 towering blocks of housing. All Saints Arts Centre and surrounding houses will be dwarfed by the new buildings. Units on the Walwers Lane site will overshadow the newly built Printworks to a degree unacceptable according to national guidelines, a fact known about but ignored by councillors when they approved the plans in March 2008.
The story of how this came about is complex and spans many years. Local people worked tirelessly to try to influence decisions and to oppose splitting the site into affordable and ‘for profit’ developments, with the affordable units separately developed and more densely packed than units on the landscaped commercial site. We deplored the sale of public land to private developers, the scant regard paid to the conservation area and the loss of an opportunity for the whole site to be developed as ‘affordable’ rather than just the less accessible Walwers Lane plot.
As we helplessly witness the desecration of Church Twitten over the coming months, we must promise ourselves that never again shall this town allow the voice of its people to be ignored on planning issues. Our battle to save Church Twitten may have been lost, but the Canon O’Donnell building and former Meridian pub are next on the list, and the North Street site is once again open to suggestions. We need intelligent development solutions which conserve the special nature of the town and house its people rather than relying on expediency and the profit motive of developers to dictate our future townscape.
Pru Rowntree
Lewes Coalition
Jan 10th 2010
Related Documents
Google map – picture of demolished site
Extract from:BRE DAYLIGHT & SUNLIGHT REPORT
In respect of the redevelopment at LEWES HOUSE SITE, LEWES
Prepared by Lance J Harris MRICS Of Anstey Horne & Co 24/09/07
‘8.4 The technical results for the relationship between the affordable housing element of the Proposed Development and The Printworks residential scheme currently under construction are clearly not in accordance with the BRE Guidelines. However, that is an inevitable consequence of building on the northern end of the affordable housing site, because the windows in The Printworks are in such close proximity, effectively installed on the boundary to Walwers Lane itself. If it were deemed reasonable to expect BRE adherence in respect of The Printworks, the affordable housing scheme would have to be radically altered and that would seem inappropriate bearing in mind the content of the planning brief for the Lewes House site, and the fact that planning permission was granted for residential use on the Printwork site after the planning brief for the Lewes House site was issued.’ (plan_leweshouse_BREDaySunlight.pdf)