Bungalow plans approved after at least five previous attempts

Councillors have approved revised proposals to build a bungalow in Hastings after at least five previous attempts. On Wednesday (April 23), Hastings Borough Council’s planning committee approved plans to build a two-bedroom bungalow on a parcel of land between No.15 The Suttons and Ironlatch Cottages.

The application, from developer Rurban Estates, comes with a lengthy planning history, with at least five previous proposals to develop the land having been considered by the council since 2001. The most recent previous scheme (also from Rurban Estates and also seeking permission for a two-bedroom bungalow) had been turned down by the council’s planning committee in August last year. Councillors at the time had been concerned about the bungalow’s internal layout, which positioned its two bedrooms immediately adjacent to a neighbour’s parking space.



The committee concluded this could cause disturbance to future occupants, as a result of light and air pollution. The developer had argued the new scheme had been redesigned to overcome this concern, reducing the footprint of the proposed dwelling and giving it a different internal layout with bedrooms positioned along its western, rather than northern, side. Proposing approval, Cllr Judy Rogers (Lab) said: “They have complied with what we have asked them to and that was the only item that caused us to refuse the planning application last August.

“Given that they have listened and they have redesigned and they have sorted out what we asked them to, I think we have no option now but to approve.” Several committee members praised the developer for making the requested changes. They included Conservative councillor Matthew Beaver, who said: “To actually see a developer go away, listen and do exactly what we asked them to do .

.. is brilliant to see.

“To be honest with you, we want more developers like this. People who actually go away and listen to what we say, rather than go away, think ‘thank you very much for that’ and then build more houses on the site. “So it should be held up to other developers as how you actually play the game and get your developments on the books.

” For further information on the scheme, see application reference HS/FA/24/00852 on the Hastings Borough Council planning portal..