Minutes of a meeting held on Wednesday 03rd June 2026, at 8.00 pm at the Chapter House, Southover Church.
Present: Roger Maskew, (in the Chair), Luke Bray, Will Dorman, John Gower, Charles Meloy, Julian Till, Andrew Winter and Carolyn Beckingham.
(1) Apologies for Absence:-
An apology for absence was received from Alex Durn.
(2) Minutes of Previous Meeting:-
The minutes of the meeting held on 06th May were approved.
(4) Executive Committee:-
The scheduled meeting of the Executive Committee planned for Wednesday 27th June, was brought forward to Wednesday 20th June at the Climate Hub, due to the Mayor Making Reception on the 27th June.
Key items discussed:-
(a) National Park Local Plan Update: Discussion regarding the publication of a recent press article stating that 685 homes are to be built in Lewes, despite the lack of progress with the major sites still undeveloped, there are major concerns regarding building homes on the flood plain.
(b) It was agreed that following consideration by the Planning Committee of John’s revised Policy for “Development in the Floodplain”, that it would be ratified by the Executive Committee by email, in order to meet the National Park’s consultation deadline of the 23rd June.
(5) Urban Design Group Conference:-
The Committee was reminded that The Urban Design Group Conference in Lewes will be on Friday the 05th June. Roger will be part of the opening presentation in the morning session to be held at the Depot. Two walking tours of Lewes are planned for the afternoon, and both Will and Peter Earl have agreed to be guides.
(6) John Gower’s Presentation:-
The proposed policy on development in the floodplain was discussed, with broad strong agreement for the need and general principles. John Gower will make a minor change to the order of points on page 7, after which it will be sent to Roger Maskew for a final check before being sent to members of the Executive Committee for approval, before 23rd June, which is the deadline for submission of comments on the latest draft of the SDNP Local Plan review. We will include a copy of the policy in our response to the SDNP Local Plan.
7) Planning Decisions from 01/05/2026 to 01/06/2026:-
The following SDNPA decisions are available online:
SDNP/26/00124/FUL: 1 Albion Street. Replacement of 8no. windows to front and side elevations. Refused.
SDNP/26/00437/HOUS: 15 Mount Harry Road. Erection of wooden fencing around the side and front gardens including 2no gates. Refused.
SDNP/25/04982/HOUS: 18 The Meadows. Erection of two storey side extension and creation of 1 no. off-street parking space. Approved.
SDNP/26/01190/HOUS: 9 Cleve Terrace. Loft conversion with rooflight to front. Approved.
SDNP/26/00809/FUL: 20-21 High Street.
Partial change of use of ground floor from Class E to form 2no. residential units. Approved.
(8) New Planning Applications from 01/05/2026 to 27/05/2026:-
SDNP/26/01729/PIP: Fuller’ Passage: Erection of up to 3 dwellings.
The Friends of Lewes object to this proposal, as the Society considers it to be an inappropriate form of development, which would result in the overdevelopment of this small town centre site.
In addition, the Society has the following specific concerns:-
(1) It is understood that there is both a land ownership and access issue in relation to Unit 1, both of which would have to be resolved legally, prior to any proposed development being approved.
(2) The juxtaposition of Unit 2 to the existing Vaults development is considered to be unacceptable.
(3) It would appear that the applicant has no control of the overall use of the site, as the use of a number of existing car parking spaces would be lost, which is also considered to be unacceptable.
SDNF/26/02010/LDP: 46 Fitzjohns Road: Conversion of existing attached garage into habitable accommodation to include replacement of existing flat roof with pitched roof:
The Friends of Lewes have no objection in principle to this proposal, but would like to suggest:-
(1) That the proposed side extension is set back slightly from the frontage of the existing house in order to accommodate the change of materials.
(2) That there is no hard standing at the front of the building, which could possibly exacerbate rain water run-off issues.
SDNF/25/01671/FUL: Eastgate Wharf: Demolition of existing buildings and construction of mixed-use development comprising 60 dwellings (Class C3), and 372 sqm ground floor commercial space (Class E), with associated flood defences, landscaping, parking, access alterations, and public realm. (Amended scheme).
The Friends of Lewes object to this proposal for the following reasons:-
(1) The proposed flood defences for this scheme are considered to be unacceptable, as the necessary works to protect the development from flooding would not be totally within the curtilage of the red line, denoting the extent of the proposed scheme.
(2) The area of land immediately fronting the River Ouse, close to Phoenix Causeway, is within the ownership of East Sussex County Council, as Highway Authority. But more significantly, the proposed flood defences, at the new required height, would not extend far enough south to connect with Cliffe Bridge.
(3) In this context, the Society appreciates that this part of the existing flood wall is within another ownership, and is not only in need of repair, but would also have to be increased in height to match the new flood walls, in order to provide sufficient flood protection and to ensure that any future flood water would be prevented from spilling into the proposed development site.
(4) The Society would therefore strongly recommend that this project should not be supported until a commitment to extending the proposed flood defences at the new required height, southwards to connect with Cliffe Bridge, has been agreed with the land owner.
The Committee examined the following applications and had no observations to make:
| SDNP/26/01776/PA14A: | 14 Barons Walk. Install 11 solar PV panels on flat roof. |
| SDNP/26/01806/ADV: | The Friars, High Street. Installation of a non-illuminated timber fascia sign with individual letters and a non-illuminated timber blade sign. |
| SDNP/26/01812/LIS & 01813/FUL | 4-6 The Bridge Wharf Brewery, Cliffe High Street. Erection of timber side entrance porch canopy and installation of non-illuminated advertising sign to ground floor side elevation |
| SDNP/26/01816/HOUS: | 21 New Road. Loft conversion and construction of 1no. rear facing dormer and 2no. front facing fooflights. |
| SDNP/26/01886/PA14OA: | Lewes Golf Club, Chapel Hill. Installation of a solar canopy for renewable energy generation. |
| SDNP/26/01922/NMA: | Old Malling Farm, Old Malling Way. Non Material Amendment to Condition 3 (Materials) of SDNP/23/04659/REM. |
| SDNP/26/01942/HOUS & 01943/LIS: | 8-9 Chapel Hill. Alterations & refurbishment of existing workshop (resubmission of previous refusal ref: SDNP/25/03602/HOUS). |
| SDNP/26/01951/NMA: | Knowlands, St Martin’s Lane. Non-material amendments to planning approval SDNP/24/02594/HOUS including timber courtyard doors; removal of chimney stack to east gable; conservation rooflight over entrance to south elevation; 2no. metal chimney flues to north and south pitched roofs; alterations to ground and first floor balcony balustrades. |
(9) Flood Report for March 2026: By John Gower.
John Gower has attended 2 online flood events this month. The first supported a PhD Student researching how to set up and maintain successful community flood action groups. 9 representatives of flooded communities took part and a report will be produced on the importance of various factors, such as experience of the group chair, support from local authorities/ water companies/ Environment Agency and communication methods. It was very interesting and heartening to be part of such important research.
The second event was a webinar on flood insurance, organised by the National Flood Forum. It was reported that more and more at-risk properties are being referred to the specialist Flood Re scheme, where the cost of insuring properties in the flood plain has increased by 43% over the last 2 years. It also emerged that insurance companies are compiling their own data bases of flood risk information, and that they do not always use the published data on gov.uk as the basis for deciding risk and pricing premiums.
The recent heatwave set record temperatures for May. The Guardian reported that with Climate Change hotter heatwaves and temperature extremes are expected to become the norm. Although we have seen no flooding from this heatwave, the principles of hotter air holding more moisture leading to more intense rainfalls is very worrying for the future and flood risks.
Research by Avia reports that one in nine new homes are being built in areas at risk of flooding today. It is predicted that 30% of homes built in 2024 will at risk of flooding by 2050, a very worrying thought indeed. This 4 minute video explains the situation and is well worth watching (apologies but there are a couple of adverts included).
(7) Any other business: None.
(8) Date of next meeting: – Wednesday 01st July 2026 at 8.00pm at the Chapter House.
