In addition to the preferred development sites, we submit on behalf of the proposer Mr P Rusted, a residential site of Cesar House Eastwood Road Bexhill on Sea East Sussex TN39 3PS. Please see location plan edged red.

Like many of the other sites proposed to be allocated the site is a small scale brownfield site. Within the site is Cesar House, the former business premises of Oliver's Printers. The site is situated within an established residential area of the town. It was vacated in 2004 and has remained vacant ever since.

Historic Planning Position

Historically, in 1955 permission was granted to Grobex Limited to erect a warehouse / store and the building company used it to store materials. In 1977 permission was granted to Gardners Books to demolish the existing buildings and erect a warehouse that was subsequently used 24 hours a day as a store and distribution centre for books. The warehouse was further extended in 1990 but then became too small for Gardners' requirements and was sold to the Rusted family in 1995. In 1995 permission was granted to Olivers Printers Limited (the Applicant's father's company) to use the premises as a commercial printing operation and a change of use
from B8 to B1 was approved. The company closed in November 2004 and the site has been empty since then.

Details of the Site

The site is 0.27 hectares in size. It is accessed directly from Eastwood Road between the semi-detached houses of 14 and 16 Eastwood Road. The site has an unusual shape. Approximately three quarters of the site is covered by office and warehouse buildings. This covers the full width of the northern boundary and portion of the site. The southern area comprises of the hardstanding forecourt, vehicle manoeuvring and parking area. Access is along a non-adopted
private driveway between the houses and curtilage of number 14 and 16 on the eastern portion of the site.

The site is adjoined to all boundaries by the rear residential gardens of houses on Eastwood Road, Chandler Road and Little Common Road. The streets have a variety of styles from the Edwardian period, interwar, post war and modern times. The scale and massing vary from two to two and a half storey to full three storey flatted developments. There is therefore no fixed grain and pattern to the character of the area and new buildings have been introduced to full three storey height.

Principle of Development

The location of the site in a residential area, in a sustainable location, within the development boundary of Bexhill on a brownfield site means that the presumption in favour of development is very strong. The site will contribute towards the supply of housing and fully accords with the objectives of the NPPF and the Government's objectives for the redevelopment of brownfield sites in sustainable locations for housing. The principle of redevelopment accords with the existing Development Plan.


Details of the Planning Permissions and their limitations

The original commercial approval in 1977 was for a 1002, square metre warehouse with office for storage and distribution. This included the existing service access, the forecourt to the building for the manoeuvring of commercial vehicles and the parking for 21 vehicles. In 1990 the building was extended by a further 400 square metres. This 'B8' book repository use was operating 24 hours a day and deliveries were made by 40 foot long articulated lorries. The primary effects upon residential amenity was noise from the vehicles starting and manoeuvring within the site, exhaust smoke and light pollution from the lorries and other vehicles and noise from machinery being used within the building. It is very surprising, today, to start to contemplate why such a planning permission was ever granted in this residential location, particularly as there were no limitations imposed on the buildings time of operation.

Closure of the Employment Use

The 1995 planning permission for 'B1' Business Use of the site for the printing business imposed new limitations on the development in terms of the size of vehicles entering the site to 10 tonnes and the opening hours to 7 am to 7pm weekdays, 7 am to 1 pm on a Saturday and no use on Sunday or Bank Holidays. However, it was untenable for the business to operate in this way and a temporary consent was granted to extend these hours in 1996. A further request by the owner in 2001to increase the hours was not supported by Officers in pre application correspondence, because of the likely impact upon neighbouring residential amenity. The business was required to revert to the permitted hours. The new limitation on vehicle size, imposed by the Council on the size of lorries delivering and picking up from the site, meant that Olivers Printers was forced to buy paper in smaller quantities which resulted in an increase in vehicle movements and adversely affected the company's profits. The business was no longer sustainable under these limitations and closed in 2004.

Recent Planning Applications to the Authority

Subsequent Applications followed. In determining a 2006 application for specialist residential accommodation reference RR/2006/2609 the proposal was considered against Local Plan policy EM2 - Retention of employment sites and buildings. In the Officer report it was put to Members that because of the past harm to the residential amenities of local residents from delivery vehicles and that the site is surrounded wholly by residential properties, the Council accepted that as an employment site, it has severe limitations and in the circumstances an alternative lower key use would be supported. Officer Report page 4, reference RR/2006/2609/P relates. It is considered that the submissions made in 2006 as set out above weighed heavily in the planning balance for the Authority, resulting in a positive decision to support the principle of redevelopment of the site with a revised application reference RR/2007/2669/P, with a predominantly residential scheme. The permission was renewed in 2010, reference RR/2010/2523/P. By then the market had changed for Residential Care accommodation and the purchase of the site by the interested party did not proceed.

As a result of the Council's restriction on hours and use, it is clear that the Council accepted the residential nature of the immediate area and has taken considerable steps to discourage any attempt to improve the viability of the site for employment purposes, ultimately making it uncompetitive and redundant. This has been subsequently borne out in the results of the marketing of the site undertaken by Tingley Commercial' property consultants, which I enclose.
A recent Outline planning application for 19, C3 dwellings, reference RR/2016/280/P was withdrawn in June 2016. The evidence of the past planning history was submitted with the application along with the Marketing report. Officers raised no objection to the principle of development, however matters of density and Development Control issues relating principally to overlooking and car parking needed to be re considered. I confirm that a revised application to the Council, again for C3 Housing, will be made shortly. No other issues were raised during the processing of the application.

Conclusion

The Council is therefore respectfully invited to allocate the site given that it is a redundant
brownfield site, falls above the Council threshold of 6 dwellings / 0.2 hectares. The site is in a highly sustainable location and surrounded by residential housing and flats, has previously been granted permission twice to remove the existing employment use, that a Marketing report demonstrates that it is no longer viable as an industrial site and Officers have raised no objection in principle to a planning application made last year for residential development.

I confirm that I am instructed by Mr Rusted Land owner of the site. We are of the opinion that the site can accommodate in the region of 19 dwellings. The site is suitable for residential use rather than any other commercial employment use. The site is within the Development Boundary. It has no Environmental or Heritage Constraints. No third party land is required to provide access. There are no drainage issues with the existing use and a residential use will reduce the level of surface water discharge. No hedgerows or trees of any importance will be removed as a result of this development. There may be a very small level of asbestos within the building but no other contamination. The development would not require a culvert or redirecting any watercourse. All utilities infrastructure are present at the site. There are no ownership constraints to prevent the site coming forward and there is no requirement to relocate a current use. We would expect the development to come forward in 2019 to 2021 and take one year to complete.
M S Jackson BSc [Hons] Environmental Planning MRTPI



An expired planning permission for the redevelopment of the site with four bungalows and associated administration to provide accommodation and support for people with learning disabilities was renewed as a planning permission on the 21st December 2010. Application reference RR/2010/2523/P.

Additional supporting information was supplied which can be viewed here:
http://www.rother.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=28033