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Welcome to the website of
Laughton Parish Council
We hope you find it useful in providing you with information about the activities of the Parish Council. We would like you to use this site to keep up to date on the latest local news and events. If you have any comments on how we can improve this site, please let us know by contacting the Clerk.
The next Full Parish Council meeting will be on
18th December 2024 at 7.30pm in the Small Parish Hall
Councillor drop-in surgeries - dates to be announced
Statement from Laughton Parish Council – June 2024
Councillors from East Hoathly with Halland Parish Council and Laughton Parish Council met with representatives for the proposed Oakleigh Garden Community this week. We were given a presentation regarding their proposals and were provided with an opportunity to ask questions.
In accordance with guidance from the Society of Local Clerks it is important to state that this meeting was held with the purpose of learning more about the proposed developments and its implications, not to form a view or make a decision.
In brief, the proposed development covers a 324 hectare site and proposes 4441 houses (to include 35% affordable), 7-10 hectares of employment space, 1 secondary and 2 primary schools, 2 or 3 large care homes/villages, 100+ hectares of green space, a new community centre with space for shops, dentist, GP surgery, restaurant/pub/takeaway and a community meeting space. A sports hub is also proposed that could provide outdoor cricket, tennis, rugby, football and tennis facilities.
The landowner is keen that the development is community driven and so intends to communicate fully with local residents - what is being presented is very much a first concept. It is intended that there will be a full programme of public engagement to include workshops, exhibitions and a website.
It is important to state at this stage that this proposal has been put forward in response to the first phase (Reg 18) of consultation on the draft Wealden Local Plan. The proposal does not form part of the draft Local Plan, and in the coming months it will be for officers at WDC to consider and assess the site, and the proposal, and to respond. For avoidance of doubt this is NOT a current planning application and is still in very early stages of discussion.
As further information, together with timescale becomes available, we will share this with Parishioners. In the meantime we have consent to share the Vision Document which can be found below.
Laughton Parish Council
June 2024
**Update**
This was very much a fact-finding exercise, it was a very early opportunity to explore the scale and complexity of the proposed development and the likely impact of the development on the wider community. We explored the impact on local infrastructure such as the A22 and local sewers, loss of agricultural land, the scope and scale of the development, build time, access and the potential timescale, together with next steps. We were assured that there will be plenty of opportunities for the local community to engage in the process, to ask questions and to scrutinise the details of what is being proposed, with workshops, exhibitions and a website, and the indications are that this will be in the very near future. Once we have details of these, we will share them. It would also be the case, going forward, that there would be considerable public consultation and scrutiny if the site were to be put forward by Wealden at any stage in the future (and this is as yet uncertain). We met with:
• Matthew Kendrick, Grass Roots Planning • Dominic Clifton, Clifton Emery Design
• Jeremy Campling, SWSD • George Back, RH & RW Clutton Property
