Wealden District Council submitted a planning application for the redevelopment of Streatfeild House in June 2022.
Planning permission was approved at the October 2022 Planning Committee. The Council has had to retender the building contract as the previous building contractor went into administration. It is anticipated that a new contractor will be appointed by the new year and work will continue on the site which is due to complete by December 2025.
The existing building will be demolished, and 20 new affordable general needs homes will be delivered in its place. The new development has been designed to meet the needs of the local community and will be highly sustainable in order to deliver on the Council’s commitment to work towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The new development will achieve an A energy rating and will take a first fabric approach to reduce energy use, CO2 emissions and running costs. It will Utilise low carbon technologies such as air source heat pumps and photo voltaic solar panels.
The new development will consist of:
- 4 x 1 bedroom apartments
- 10 x 2 bedroom houses
- 5 x 3 bedroom houses
- 1 x 4 bedroom house and
- 43 parking spaces
18 of the homes will be available to rent to local households from the Housing Register and the remaining 2 homes (2 x 2-bedroom houses) will be available to purchase on a shared ownership basis.
All homes will be accessible and adaptable and will include features that will make them suitable for a range of occupants, including older people, individuals with reduced mobility and some wheelchair users.
In addition to ensuring that all of the homes meet Building Regulations (M4(2) , there will be one 3 bedroom house and one 4 bedroom house that have been designed specifically for wheelchair users.
Each house has its own private garden and two parking spaces and every 1-bedroom flat has private outdoor space and 1 car parking space. There are also 7 visitor parking spaces.
The development has been carefully designed to fit in with the surrounding area. None of the buildings are larger than two storeys in height and traditional materials are proposed to complement the existing buildings on the High Street.
The proposed layout has been carefully designed to preserve neighbouring privacy light and outlook with the rear facades of all buildings being set at least 19m from existing properties on Lime Close and Bedford Court.
Boundaries will be maintained via a mix of hedging, walls and fencing, and the Lest We Forget bench installed by the Manor Park and Hempstead Fields Residents Association will also be retained in place along with the Bus Stop.
The wooded area at the South of the site will be retained and enhanced as a Woodland Wildlife area to improve biodiversity. Non-native invasive species will be removed and the area will be managed to encourage vertebrae, birds and bats. The development will aim to provide a safe good quality environment that meets Secure by Design principles and protects and enhances the bio-diversity of the area.
Bat and bird boxes, as well as bee bricks, bee friendly planting and hedgehog gateways will be provided within the site, and as many existing hedgerows and trees as possible will be retained, with additional planting and landscaping provided throughout.
New Streatfeild House
Each house has private amenity within its property boundary line, following the Wealden Design Guide. The private amenity is key to ensuring a good quality of life for the residents inhabiting the proposed dwellings. There is a trilogy of communal shared landscape spaces which encourage the movement of the users to the rear of the site where the ecology wildlife zone is located. The series of landscaped spaces lead to a luscious green backdrop, specifically retained for the residents of the Streatfeild House site. All 4 of the apartments have a private ground floor enclosed amenity space, near to its independent entrance. Refer to the landscape section of this document for further information on the considered approach to the biodiversity of the site. The design of the front of the houses incorporates a green buffer and the refuse storage within a brick walled enclosure, which will also act as a wayfinding tool with house numbering and inset lighting if required. –>Images of new development
Click on image to enlarge view.
