Icklesham Parish Council are concerned about what this would mean for historic and listed buildings, this is particulalrly relevant to Winchelsea. The Parish Council notes that GTC2 does state that policy HER1 will apply but it would be interesting to know which policy would carry more weight when considering a planning application.

Live Well Locally

The Live Well Locally concept will be particularly difficult for residents within Icklesham Parish as none of the four settlements have a doctors surgery, the closest ones being in Rye and Hastings. There is also two primary schools throughout the Parish that serve all four settlements. These schools (Winchelsea CEP and Icklesham CEP) are very small schools and would not be able to take an influx of extra children. Two of the wards have small village shops and one has a Co-Op. None of these shops would be suitable to do a weekly food shop. Icklesham does not have a shop at all.

There is a bus service in each of the four settlements however the service is infrequent and at times unreliable.

Policy GTC2

Icklesham Parish Council are concerned about what this policy would mean for historic and listed buildings. IPC note that the polilcy states that HER1 would apply but it would be interesting to note which policy would carry more weight when deciding on a planning application.

Policy HER1

Please refer to note above concerning GTC2.

Policy DEV3

IPC would like to know if Net Zero developments would be considered outside of development boundaries.

Policy LWL3

Both Rye Harbour and Icklesham have potential sites identified for development. Both Rye Harbour and Icklesham have a bus service although the service is only once an hour during the week and once every two hours on a Saturday. There is no bus service at all on a Sunday in Rye Harbour. If new development is to go ahead, could Rother consult with Stagecoach about increasing the number of bus journeys?

Rye Harbour has good cycle paths however cycling in and out of Icklesham means cycling on the road with fast traffic both in and out of the village.


Policy HOU6

Planning Enforcement Team very over stretched and relying on Parish Councils and residents to flag any issues. Issues with HMOs may not be obvious to Councillors or other residents. Will the Enforcement Team realistically have time to Enforce such planning conditions?

Policy HOU17

Would these sort of developments be considered in Winchelsea Beach? IPC are concerned about the potential extra kitches and bathrooms and the strain this would cause to an already overloaded sewer system and ongoing surface water flooding and sewerage issues.

Policy ECO6

The Parish Council would like to know if this would also be the case for caravan parks extending their opening times during winter months? There have been instances recently where extension to opening times have been allowed despite objections raised by residents and the Parish Couoncil and evidence of extreme surface water flooding on specific sites being provided to the Planning Team and Planning Committee.

Policy ENV1

The Parish Council would like to know if anything can be done to ensure that any contributions are actually spent on improving local infrastructure as we know that the sewer networks in both Icklesham and Winchelsea Beach are in desperate need of updating. The Parish Council feel that this is a necessary step before any further development takes place in either ward.


Potential Sites Identified in Icklesham

ICK0041 & ICK0017

As previously explained, Icklesham's sewer network is in need of an upgrade and the Parish Council feel that this should take place before any further development takes place. The Parish Clerk has an email from Southern Water which indicates that they are aware that the Water Treatment Works (WTW) in Icklesham gets overloaded which causes it to back up the line. The Clerk has asked Southern Water whether there are any plans to update the Water Treatment Works and they have advised there is no planned investment prior to April 2025 at Icklesham WTW. However, there is planned investment in AMP8 (April 2025 to 2030) to the monitoring of flows entering the WTW. Certainty of this investment is yet to be concluded by OFWAT in the PR24 determination for AMP8.


Potential Site identified in Rye Harbour

ICK0046

Parish Council have previously raised concerns about the local infrastructure not being able to cope with this level of development. Particularly the roads as Rye Harbour is effectively a cul de sac. Harbour Road already gets heavily congested, particularly in the summer months when visitors attend to visit the Discovery Centre and the Nature Reserve. ICK0046 has been identified as suitable for 40 dwellings which is a large development for Rye Harbour which is very small in comparison.

While it is good to have a belt and braces approach to this, I am not sure how many retrofits it will apply to. I thought most retrofits would not come under the planning process? It is hugely expensive for most people to retrofit their properties- usually more so for the people who need it the most. While not a planning policy, RDC should consider giving more help to people to access funding or use CIL money.

Just to note, the two references both refer to residential retrofit, rather than non-domestic buildings.
While the LETI guide could still be relevant in relation to the key principles, other guidance may be more relevant for retail, office, or warehouse buildings for example.

Retrofit is essential to mitigate the effects of global heating. I'm about to retrofit my house, and hope the cost of providing an Energy Statement aligned with LETI's six principles will not require another expensive survey and report.

ALL homes should aim for BREEAM's Excellent standard, not just schemes delivering 10 homes or more. A cut-off point of 10 allows developers and landlords to 'cheat' by doing smaller numbers at a time.

Having read other comments on this topic, it seems education is needed to persuade home-owners, landlords and parish councils that the up-front cost of a low-energy retrofit will save money right away and pay-back fairly quickly.

I hope Rother provide pay-back-as-you-save loans or facilitate grants for retrofit? I hope Rother will set up a retrofit advisory team (ideally with at least one person expert in older or historic buildings?