The Eton Plans

Eton would like to build 3000 homes in the shaded area below, for reference the SDNP ends at the railway line.

This is the full text from the developer (from the EC parish website)

Comments from us:

Andrew Simpson (planning consultant)

Claims on his LinkedIn to be about "Andrew has been engaged on a number of regeneration projects, aimed at creating new communities that respond to the climate and ecological emergency and are great places to live, work and play."

Not sure building 3000 homes on the border of the national park is in line with the ecological emergency!

Agricultural Urbanism

Has nothing to do with what he is talking about, AU is about connecting cities to where their food comes from, you can read about the book here, it actually says that we need to focus on making cities more like rural communities not make rural communities like cities. Its about food not developing fields into towns.

Damon Turner

Boasts on his LinkedIn about all the projects he's working on, he's all about turning fields into houses.

- A new market town of approx. 3,000 new homes in West Sussex. Currently at Reg 18.

- A new market town of approx. 3,500 new homes in East Sussex. Currently at Call for Sites.

- 550 new homes plus a care village and supporting infrastructure in Mid Sussex. Draft allocation.

- 108 new homes in Polegate. Consented in 2020 and site sold to a developer.

- 300 new homes in Hailsham. Resolution to grant and sold to a developer.

- 65 new homes in Storrington. Secured an allocation in Neighbourhood Plan. Consented in 2019.

- approx. 200 homes in Chichester District. First phase application for up to 78 dwellings submitted.

- approx. 200 homes in Mid Sussex District. Promoting through Local Plan process.

- approx. 650 homes plus commercial in Horsham District. Promoting through Local Plan process.

- approx. 110 homes in Horsham District. Promoting through Local Plan process.

- approx. 220 homes in Horsham District. Allocated in Neighbourhood Plan. Application pending.

- approx. 150 home retirement village in East Herts. JV with a leading provider of retirement villages.

- approx. 45 homes in Rother District. Application submitted.

They all stand to make eye watering amounts of money from this deal if allowed to pass, we must act now to let them know they will face fierce opposition at every stage if they continue to pursue this massive overdevelopment of our rural community, join now to help stop this.

Letter to ECPC:

I have set out below our initial thinking that is based on the principles of Agricultural Urbanism which we are planning to use to inform our design process, together with a brief summary of our credentials.

Agricultural Urbanism combines the benefits of sustainable urban life, with all the day to day needs of people and families being met within 10 or 15 minutes walking or cycle-ride , with the renewed focus on the importance of the rural economy, building on existing local traditions and the emerging patterns of new rural communities in which food-growing and small holdings play an important role. Agricultural Urbanism reflects how much loved English market towns grew and evolved. This approach also places zero carbon, ecology and biodiversity net gain at the centre of the planning process.

Welbeck Land, the promoter for this site, is working with the landowner, Eton College, on this project. Welbeck Land is an experienced land promoter, working with landowners in Sussex, Hampshire, and the Midlands to bring forward sustainable new developments. Damon Turner, the Welbeck partner leading on North Barnes Farm, comes from Sussex where he still has family, and is currently advising the land owners at Adversane in West Sussex on the development of a new settlement as part of the Local Plan consultation in Horsham District. Welbeck retains Lord Deben, the chair of the UK Committee on Climate Change, as an adviser on sustainability.

For this project, Damon has assembled a team of consultants with a range of local, national and international experience to prepare plans for a new Sussex market town to face the challenges of the 21^st Century, providing homes and jobs for our growing population in the context of the climate emergency.

The leader of the design team is Paul Murrain. Paul was Senior Design Director at HRH The Prince of Wales' Foundation for the Built Environment during the early years of the development of Poundbury, the Duchy of Cornwall’s urban extension to Dorchester. He has also lived and worked in the USA where he was a visiting professor at The University of Miami and a member of the New Urbanism movement. Paul continues to be a leading thinker and design consultant in how we should respond to our need for new homes and jobs in a way that respects the traditions of the past, whilst responding to the challenges of the future. To assist Paul in this work, Will Anderson, of Rabble Place, is providing local architectural advice. Will lives in Firle, and is based in Lewes. He advises a number of parishes and landed estates in Sussex and Hampshire on their Neighbourhood Plans and estate plans, is a trustee of Action in Rural Sussex, and is adept in the local architectural vernacular.

Our landscape consultant, Stephen Kirkpatrick of Scarp, and our ecologist, Alexia Tamblyn of the Ecology Partnership, have been chosen for their experience of working in very sensitive landscapes, including the South Downs National Park, and their understanding of the particular circumstances in Sussex.

The leader of our transport team is Lynn Basford of Basford Powers. Lynn is a leading transport consultant, with a focus on sustainable transport futures, and is a contributor to the latest technical guidance produced in the transport industry focussed on radical reductions in car use in favour of public transport, cycling and walking.

I myself have lived in Lewes for over 15 years, and am an experienced planning consultant, having first engaged in the development of major sites as Director of Estates and Regeneration for the South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, during which time I gained planning permission for the regeneration of an 80 acre site in the London Borough of Wandsworth for a new, sustainable suburb, including affordable and supported housing, a new 30 acre urban park and a new mental health inpatient facility. This is now being built out. I have also advised the team responsible for the North East Chelmsford Garden Village, and am currently working with Welbeck on the proposed new settlement in Adversane, West Sussex. I am focussed on the social and community benefits of new development for existing as well as new residents, and on zero carbon in all its complexity.

We are approaching this project recognising that local people are unlikely to welcome us at first, but we would hope to be able to build a trusting relationship over time that will ensure that the proposals, as they emerge, will provide benefits to the existing communities as well as to that which will emerge on this site, should planning permission be granted in the fullness of time. Our whole team is in this area of work because we believe that we will continue to need new and affordable homes in Lewes district and the south east more broadly for some time to come, and that, if this is accepted, we have a duty to ensure that these are provided in the best and most sustainable way possible. We fully appreciate that this will have more impact on some people than on others, but our experience tells us that there are mutual benefits to be gained if we are all able to work together.

We are aware that the site is wholly within East Chiltington, but we are concerned to ensure that Plumpton and Chailey Parish Councils are also engaged early in the planning process given the effects that our plans will have on all three parishes. To this end, I have copied Cllrs Beaumont and Lethem into this email.

We are working within the Lewes District Council Local Plan review process, and would welcome full engagement with the parishes and local politicians as part of this process. To this end, once your members have considered your requirements, we would like to work with you, and the other parishes, as our plans evolve in advance of the Regulation 18 consultation timetabled for the Spring/Summer 2021.

Please feel free to contact me at any time so that we can agree a mutually beneficial way of working together.

Thank you

Kind regards,

Andrew

Andrew Simpson

BA(Hons) (Cantab) MA AoU