Race Bias Allegation Fuels St Leonards Planning Contest
By Hugh Sullivan
A proposal to build four high-specification ‘eco’ houses on a vacant site at Newts Way in St Leonards is being challenged by planning officers at Hastings Borough Council (HBC) on a number of policy and environmental grounds. There is a contrary groundswell of opinion amongst both professional housing architects and local environmental activists that the council’s objections are unsubstantiated and disproportionate. And Elsie Owusu OBE, the owner-developer of Ghanaian descent who is chair of the Society of Black Architects, has tossed into the debate an allegation that adverse comments made in respect of a previous proposal for the site, which she put forward last year but then withdrew, were “based on prejudiced assumptions based on her ethnicity, cultural background
and that of prospective residents”. In other words she has accused objectors of wanting to stop the houses being built and sold to others with Ghanaian or other African backgrounds.
The site at issue is at the junction of Newts Way and Darwell Close, which leads off Harley Shute Road to an enclave bordered by the railway line between West St Leonards and Crowhurst. The neighbouring estate is of vernacular housing standard, no dwelling above two storeys, and the chief objection made last August to Ms Owusu’s original design by HBC’s principal planner Thandi Zulu was that it would be “uncharacteristic of surrounding development”. It would also result in “the loss of a valuable greenspace or amenity area”.
The expansion of the design proposal from one house to four was hardly calculated to meet these objections. Nor have they. On 23rd February this year HBC’s senior planner Catherine Denning-Johnson submitted adverse comments claiming that “it has not been evidenced that the development of the site meets a local need which outweighs harm to the nature conservation interest”. And last week the council’s Environment and Natural Resources Manager lodged a “biodiversity response form” concluding that the undeveloped site “provides a significant contribution to the natural aspect of the surrounding and existing development and forms a contiguous green network with surrounding habitats, including national and local designated sites”.
Nature conservation
From earlier remarks in this response it appears that this “contiguous green network” includes the Combe Valley Countryside Park (CVCP) and protected wildlife habitats there, as if the busy railway line between them did not exist. A spokesman for Friends of CVCP has confirmed to HIP that they can see no significant benefit to the biodiversity of the park from retaining a small green space on the other side of the tracks. Compared to the 210 homes that are in course of being built just up the road on the former playing fields of Grove School, and the 192 houses which HBC are seeking permission for at Bulverhythe, objection to four more houses at Newts Way on conservation grounds appears quite bizarre.
In fact the site is hardly a green space even in itself. There are a number of public sewers laid in the ground serving neighbouring properties. Their existence may give rise to serious building design problems but also means that any other use of the space is necessarily restricted. In fact it has been boarded off for the last five years to prevent it being used as a fly-tip.
How Ms Owusu’s race prejudice allegation plays into the planning contest is yet to be seen. Many neighbourhood objectors go along with the council’s argument that the design is out of character for the location, but several have also expressed outrage that any opposition should be tarnished with racism. Their main concern seems to be that the houses will cut off sightlines from the children’s play park across the road.
A large number of positive comments have also been lodged in favour of the development, mostly from fellow architectural practitioners praising Ms Owusu’s innovative designs, which provide for substantial office workspaces as well as living quarters to reflect anticipated future demand from home-working professionals. It is inescapable that many of these supporters have professional connections with Ms Owusu and make no claims for any local connection. But so what? The issue should be decided on planning merits. No hearing date has yet been set.
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