Following expressions of concern over the growing number of planning applications by members of the public, Chiddingly Parish Council has set up a working group to study the concerns that Wealden is being over-developed, to collect information and to make recommendations on how the current and potential impact of existing and proposed developments in Chiddingly, the surrounding villages and towns, and Wealden’s rural habitat can be addressed.
The Parish Council convened an Extraordinary General Meeting on 22nd June. Councillors and members of the public raised a variety of concerns about development projects and the perceived failure of our planning authorities to take sufficiently into account residents’ frustrations and alarm at the aggregate impact and scale of planning applications flooding into the system. It was feared that in a highly mobile society, proposed developments in the area could have a disproportionate impact not just on this parish but on neighbouring parishes towns and greenfield areas, and vice versa.
After a full discussion, the Parish Council agreed to set up a working group, which held its first meeting on Wednesday 7th July. The agenda was to:
- Define the role of the working group and its scope of work and to distinguish between development and overdevelopment.
- Create a reporting structure to give feedback to the Parish Council and residents.
- Lay out a process for collecting information and eliciting the views of residents, whatever their perspective.
- Understand Wealden’s planning policies and offer support for the creation of a coherent and sustainable plan for the whole district.
- Identify and understand those in positions of power and authority to make policy, with the goal of ensuring that their decisions are more responsive to residents’ voices by creating a media strategy to the same end.
- Begin reaching out to parish councils beyond Chiddingly’s administrative boundaries to form a network of information and influencers.
We already have a strong sense of residents’ opinions from letters for and against individual planning applications, but we would appreciate your views on developments within and beyond the parish boundaries, especially their aggregate impact on you and your surroundings. If you would like to contribute your perspectives to our work, or simply to receive updates on it, please send us an email to: cllr.nikos.mikelis@chiddingly.gov.uk