Detailed plans for 140 modular homes in Hastings have been given the green light.
Hastings Borough Council secured outline permission to develop Harrow Lane Playing Fields back in 2019.
A reserved matters application, setting out the detailed design and layout of the homes, was approved by the council’s planning committee on Wednesday (March 23).
Officers said the development had three central greens which linked together on a north-south axis, had a clear gateway into the site and included pedestrian and cycle links.
But Mike Edwards (Con, Ashdown) suggested that after an initial failure to sell the site the council had ‘stitched up a secret deal’ with Ilke Homes.
He described how the modular homes would be built in Yorkshire and then transported to the site and assembled there.
He went on to call the development a ‘political heist’ by the Labour controlled council with the proceeds due to be used to ‘plug a hole in the council’s finances’.
Mr Edwards pointed at the amount of development due to take place around the site and requested the committee ‘save the last green space in the north of Hastings’.
Officers said the loss of green space and impact of the new homes on traffic had been considered at outline stage.
Highways improvements from the numerous developments would be secured by legal agreements and the county council had not raised any objections.
Sorrell Marlow-Eastwood (Con, Ashdown) highlighted how 27 per cent of the homes would not meet the council’s own guidance for their outdoor space, something she labelled ‘absolutely appalling’.
She added: “I do not understand why we need to settle for second best for the people of Hastings.”
Meanwhile Matthew Beaver (Con, West St Leonard’s) questioned why the council had recently decided not to sell Tilekiln playing fields for a new football ground so it could protect green spaces, but was going ahead with 140 homes here.
After debate the application was approved by five votes to three with one abstention.
Committee chairman Alan Roberts (Lab, Wishing Tree) said:
“We need a lot of housing, we have not got a choice. The government has made it clear we need these houses and they need to go somewhere.”
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