Please provide up-to-date development boundaries for villages ie. Catsfield. Have the boundaries changed?

Rother District Council's development plans contradict their own policies, particularly in relation to their stated priority of being "Green to the Core." The key concerns and issues:
Contradiction with Environmental Goals:
Stated Priority: Rother District Council claims their priority is to be environmentally friendly ("Green to the Core").
Development Plans: Despite this, there is a focus on developing greenfield and farmland sites, such as BAT0014, which contradicts their environmental stance. There is little or no proposed brownfield development.
Impact on Farmland and Wildlife:
Farmland Development: The planned development area BAT0014 is currently a beautiful area of farmland.
Wildlife Habitat: This area supports a variety of wildlife, including bats, deer, newts, frogs and door mice which will be adversely affected by the development.
Infrastructure Concerns:
North Trade Road: This road is already in a poor state and struggling to support the current population.
Traffic and Maintenance: Adding more homes would exacerbate traffic issues and further strain an already inadequate infrastructure.

The High Street in Battle is often heavily congested and so is North Trade Road which could be dangerous in an emergency.
The development would destroy the AONB.
Loss of ancient hedgerows protecting wildlife, veteran trees, flora and fauna.
loss of grade A farmland which we need to produce local food.
Battle does not have big enough schools, enough local employment or doctor’s surgery's.

I welcome the integration of the Core Policy and DASA into a single Plan.

Please see attached submission document, which includes representations on:

Objections to HELAA sites
- TIC0008: Flimwell East Broad Location, Hawkhurst Road, Flimwell
- TIC0027: Land rear of Fruitfields, High Street, Flimwell

Objections to
- GYP0002: Land north of Broom Hill, Flimwell, Ticehurst Parish
- GYP0003: The Hollies, The Mount, Flimwell, Ticehurst parish

Comment on
- GYP0005: Land at North Bexhill, Watermill Lane, Bexhill

Comment on
- The consultation process

I am writing to object to the draft version of the Rother Local Plan 2020-2040 Draft (Regulation 18) version. My brief objections / comments are as follows:

General comments

• The concept of the Local Plan was introduced in the 2004 planning reforms to create a strategic spatial planning vision for an area. A new Plan is sorely needed – as well as being a regulatory necessity – as the 2006 Plan does not reflect current realities in Battle. This is a small town with a creaking infrastructure and some of its green spaces eroded by development; it is dirty, congested and polluted by traffic emissions and its state schools and medical/dentistry facilities are at full capacity. These factors were ignored by RDC when it foisted its ill-conceived and execrably executed Blackfriars development in 2021 on unwilling residents based on policies in the out-of-date 2006 Plan to capitalise on a potential commercial opportunity.

• Instead of engaging closely with residents and businesses to create a realistic and achievable vision, consultation during Plan development has been scant and poorly communicated. The draft outcome from this process is an impenetrable 453 page tome with many hundreds of pages of background papers, inaccessible to most residents with neither the time or resources to contribute to the consultation.

• Indeed, my soundings suggest that after the Blackfriars debacle (see below), trust is absent between many residents and the planning authority which is perceived to ignore objections to its development programme.

Sites

Q64 What are your views on the potential sites identified in the draft HELAA that could accommodate more growth in Battle and surrounding settlements.

• I would reiterate the general comment that the infrastructure and facilities of the town have already stretched to breaking point following the Tollgates and Lillybank developments and that no further large-scale development should be permitted in Battle.

• I am formally objecting to the Rother Draft Local Plan reference number BAT00014, which concerns a proposed development on Almonry Farm. This site lies within the High Weald AONB and any planned housing would cause significant damage to the biodiversity of the area as well as harming the character of the town because of its proximity to its heritage assets. I strongly oppose this plan which cannot be supported by the town’s existing infrastructure and urge RDC to exclude it from the Plan to protect our community.

• I strongly object to the continued inclusion of site BAT003, Land at Blackfriars Battle in the Draft Local Plan. There have been continued delays in bringing the housing element of this white elephant project forward and it should now be abandoned without further calls on the public purse. It is worth mentioning here that with no official source of information, residents are having to resort to social media reports to ascertain progress on RDC’s own Blackfriars development. From this we learn that: (i) construction of the spine road is now costing £21m – some £16m over the original budget (who pays?); (ii) the contract with Wates has been terminated at a cost of £900,000 to the ratepayer, (iii) the affordable housing element has been removed from the scheme for cost reasons; (iv) the ‘award winning’ environmental element has been removed for cost reasons. Some commercial opportunity!

• Blackfriars proves that the planning process is not designed for local authority led schemes. A private developer would have to satisfy stringent planning requirements and objectors would have the opportunity to make their case on appeal to the planning Inspectorate; when the position is reversed and RDC’s own development company is initiating the proposals there is not the same level of protection for residents. Therefore the Plan should stipulate that residents will have the opportunity to appeal to the planning Inspectorate in the case of any council led schemes coming forward.

Please confirm receipt of these objections and keep me informed of any progress as the Plan evolves.