Category: Uncategorized

SDNP – Design Awards – ‘People’s Choice Award’

The public is able to vote for a ‘People’s Choice Award’ ahead of the closing date of midnight on Friday 6 September. The Landscape category contains two projects in Lewes: the Wallands School rain gardens project which FoL visited in 2023; and the recent restoration of the Cockshut Stream. Please see the link below if you are interested in voting.

Exciting shortlist announced as public poll opens for coveted awards

A public park makeover, café, eco-home, temple, and the restoration of a 570-year-old timber house are among the exciting mix of projects shortlisted for a prestigious South Downs Design Award.

More than 60 nominations were received across Hampshire, West Sussex and East Sussex for the National Park’s award scheme that celebrates outstanding design, architecture and innovation.

Sixteen unique projects have been shortlisted by judges and are now in with a chance of winning a stunning trophy, beautifully hand-carved in South Downs oak by acclaimed West Sussex-based sculptor, Alison Crowther.

Among those shortlisted are the restoration of a river, a glasshouse, a school extension and many more.

A judging panel, which includes members of the National Park’s Design Review Panel, will visit each shortlisted site and decide the winner in each category: Residential; Non-residential, Landscape and Conservation.

The public can also vote for their favourite out of the 16 for an overall “People’s Choice” award, with voting now open.

All the winners will be revealed at a glittering awards ceremony, to be held at the South Downs Centre – itself a converted Victorian school – in Midhurst on 2 October.

Mike Hughes, Planning Director (Interim) for the National Park Authority, said: “I want to thank everyone who nominated and it’s been a really difficult task to shortlist as the calibre was so high.

“We’ve got an incredible mix of projects that show how diverse the built environment is in the South Downs, which is by far the most populated of any National Park in the UK and is a place where people, nature and history come together.

“Many of the projects incorporate first-class biodiversity and climate change mitigations, while others showcase design innovation that creates wonderful living spaces or the amazing restorations of extremely old buildings. Other projects show the vision for the future to continue enhancing this treasured landscape.

“I’m looking forward to finding out the public’s favourite and I would invite everyone to find out more about each project.”

The last South Downs Design Awards were held in 2019.

The shortlisted projects for 2024 are:

Residential category

Black Timber House, Rodmell, East Sussex

Hocking House, Petersfield, Hampshire

Lannings Way, Midhurst, West Sussex

The Mile House, Amberley, West Sussex

Non-residential category

Handlebar Café, Winchester, Hampshire

New Temple Complex, Liss, Hampshire

Prince’s Mead School Extension, Winchester, Hampshire

Landscape Category

Cockshut Stream Restoration, Lewes, East Sussex.

Wallands Community Primary School Raingarden, Lewes, East Sussex

Woolbeding Glasshouse, Woolbeding, West Sussex

Wild Park, Brighton, East Sussex

Conservation category

The Dower House, Chawton, Hampshire

The Restoration of Stanmer Park, Falmer, East Sussex

Tote Hill Barn, Stedham, West Sussex

Wiston Estate Winery, Washington, West Sussex

Chalk-based Renovation, Remediation and Regeneration (Shoreham Cement Works), West Sussex

Find out more and vote in “The People’s Choice” at www.southdowns.gov.uk/landscape-design-conservation/design-in-the-south-downs/awards/peoples-choice/

Voting will close at midnight on 6 September.

Climate Change: Implications for Coastal & Fluvial flooding in Lewes and the lower Ouse valley – 19 June

Wednesday 19 June 2024, 7.30 pm, Council Chamber, First floor, Lewes Town Hall, High Street entrance (Disabled entrance & lift on Fisher Street) – John Gower, Friends of Lewes

A recording of this talk is now available to view on YouTube.

Climate change is bringing increasing rainfall and building development is paving over green surfaces causing more and faster runoff which makes its way into our streams and rivers.  Sea levels are rising and the landmass of the South of England is sinking by 1.5mm a year. All this combines to increase flood risk to Lewes and the lower Ouse valley.

John Gower, the Flood Lead for the Friends of Lewes, will be giving a talk on the 19 June on Climate change: implications for coastal & fluvial flooding in Lewes and the lower Ouse valley.

John has recently retired after a lifelong career as an environmental scientist and climate change/ flood risk manager with the Environment Agency.  John will explain the risks around ever-increasing flood risks, what we can do to mitigate these and how we will need to adapt in the future.

This talk is free for Friends of Lewes. Non-members can pay £4.00 on the door to attend or join here.

See the Diary page for a list of forthcoming events organised by the Friends of Lewes

Seaford Head Great storm of 1987, source: Environment Agency
Lewes October 2000, source: Environment Agency

New historical plaque in St Anne’s Crescent

A new historical plaque has been added at 29 St. Anne’s Crescent to commemorate Lewis Bilbie Rees, a jockey born in 1898, who lived there from 1924 to his death in 1972. He won the 1922 Grand National on ‘Music Hall’. His brother Fred had also won that race in 1921 on ‘Shaun Spadah’, now buried near Lewes Racecourse. For a full list of historic plaques please see Friends of Lewes List of Plaques (June 2024 update)

FoL AGM & Talk: Retrofitting in Lewes – 24 April 2024

Wednesday 24 April 2024, Lewes Town Hall, Fisher Street entrance

Chris Rowlands and Nicki Myers of Ovesco

How can Lewes to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions, especially in conservation areas? Community Energy Company Ovesco (Ouse Valley Climate Action) is helping residents with advice to generate energy and become more energy efficient. OVESCO knows that more homes are installing PV, heat pumps, batteries and EV charging points. But local energy generation needs to be delivered with energy efficiency for a low carbon future and this requires existing homes to retrofit. The solutions can be complex especially in a conservation area where we need to protect the character of Lewes as well as the environment. The need to work together to find affordable solutions for everyone has never been more important as we adapt to climate change.

Find out more from OVESCO and Sussex based installers OHM Energy (represented by Jason Lindfeld and Courtney Frazer-Bates) with sustainable buildings expert Suzy Nelson, architect Ian MacKay from Deeper Green.

The talk and panel discussion will start at around 8.15pm, following the Friends of Lewes AGM which begins at 7.30 pm. The AGM is for members-only but non-members can attend the talk by paying £4 on the door.

FoL Talk: Marcus Taylor: Lewes Heritage Open Days 2024: a preview of some of the venues and events this year – 20 August 2024

Tuesday 20 August 2024, from 7:30 pm, Eastgate Baptist Church Hall, Eastgate Street, Lewes, BN7 2LR – LIVE & ON ZOOM

Note: We will be in the meeting room upstairs, so please use the side entrance, which will be signed and has disabled access.

Heritage Open Days has been a popular series of national events since 1994. Friends of Lewes has been centrally involved in this annual celebration of our heritage for many years, taking on the primary responsibility for organising the weekend about 10 or so years ago.

This year’s offering is again a tempting selection: Lewes, with over 500 Listed buildings, offers plenty to choose from and web have a mix of new places and long-standing favourites. This includes a chance to see the impressive new extension to the Friends Meeting House in Friar’s Walk.

Photo: The new gateway and rear extension, courtesy of Lewes Quakers.

The programme, spread over 13th to 15th September, includes free access to 14 different buildings, some with special tours. In addition, five different guided walks will take place in the town with different start times to cater for what historically has been high levels of interest.

Some of the venues and events are for limited numbers and require online booking, so keep an eye out for the leaflets and posters.

This talk is free to members of the Friends of Lewes, and £4 to non-members on the door. Non-members can buy a ticket (£4) from TicketSource, which will then provide a link for this Zoom talk.

Members will receive an email with a Zoom link.

Please click on that link to attend the talk 5 minutes before it starts.

We would recommend a computer screen or an iPad as a minimum screen-size for viewing our Zoom talks.

Our presenters will be speaking live, and you can ask questions by typing in the Chat box in Zoom.

See the Diary page for a list of forthcoming events organised by the Friends of Lewes

FoL Response to Planning Application for Former Bus Station site

The Friends of Lewes maintain their strong objection to the planning application ‘SDNP/23/02973/FUL: Former Bus Station Eastgate Street: Demolition of existing buildings and construction of mixed-use development comprising 3 houses (Class C3), 32 self-contained flats (Class C3) and 198 m2 of ground floor commercial space (Class E), with associated access alterations, landscaping and parking. (Amended Plans and additional documents)

The Friends of Lewes have written to the SDNPA as follows:

former-bus-station-eastgate-streetDownload

Lewes Bus Station: Reconsultation open until 22 March 2024

The SDNPA has received amended plans and additional documents regarding Generator (Eastgate Street) Ltd’s planning application for Lewes Bus Station. These may be viewed by searching by the SDNPA’s Planning Portal for proposal SDNP/23/02973/FUL. The application is open for comments until Friday 22 March 2024 (in writing to the SDNPA, by email to planning@southdowns.gov.uk or online) .

In addition, the SDNPA has refused Generator’s application for retrospective planning permission for temporary hoardings and gates around the bus station for an additional 12 months. The reasons for the refusal can be viewed via the Planning Portal by searching for SDNP/24/00114/FUL.

How to protect yourself from surface water flooding – 30 March 2024

Saturday 30 March, 11am-12.30pm, Lewes Climate Hub, 32 High Street, Lewes, BN7 2LU

Lewes has experienced severe flooding several times and the town is at increasing risk due to climate change and development. One particular problem is surface water flooding, which happens when there is too much rain for the drains and streets fill with water. One way of reducing this type of flooding is to slow down the water so that it can sink safely into the soil or drains. This event will look at steps that you can take in your home, garden and street to help protect yourself and your community from surface water flooding. Join us to delve into the practical solutions and meet experts including from the Friends of Lewes and Love Our Ouse with support from the Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust. Bring your questions to learn more about practical techniques for sustainable flood prevention and climate resilience.

NB. This is a NEW date which replaces the event previously scheduled for 23rd March