Applicants Greystoke Land Limited were putting forward proposals to build up to 211 holiday lodges and 350 car parking spaces on this site. Their barrister, Anthony Crean KC, acknowledged unashamedly at the hearing that they had chosen it because of the beauty of the local landscape, which is encompassed within the Weald AONB [Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty], arguing that their designs would moderate any potential harm to it from the prospective development. 

But while the Committee accepted that the proposals represented investment in the local economy and tourism sector, “which has policy support”, it concluded unanimously that their scale – akin to building a new village the size of Catsfield itself, which has an existing population of around 800 residents – “would create a prominent and incongruous intrusion into the rural setting, appearing as an intensive overdevelopment of the site and out of keeping with the surroundings”.

The Committee also expressed concern at the prospective intensification of traffic seeking access from the existing village.

The result is vindication of the efforts of a team of local residents who have campaigned against the proposals, led by naturalist and local tree warden Dr John Feltwell. But it is plain that they had the vast majority of locals on their side as well as a plethora of statutory bodies. Over 1,000 on-line comments were lodged on Rother’s planning website, almost all opposing the development – the largest application response which Rother has ever received. 

“The environmental impact would have been substantial,” says Dr Feltwell, “especially the eight-metre high lodges on stilts, out of character in the AONB. Dark Skies policy would have been compromised. 

“As tree warden, I emphasised the impact on the protected woodlands on site, the loss of bluebell woods, greenfield loss with the widening of the woodland tracks to 3.7m. I also emphasised to Rother that UK law is all about ‘conserve and enhance’, not ‘destroy, then enhance’.” 

During the hearing, the Committee were told by Mr Crean that his clients would not appeal if the application was rejected. Campaigners are hoping that the result means that the company will have given up their development plans altogether – but they remain alert to what may happen next.

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Inappropriate language

Dear HIP
I have always considered the Hastings Independent a newspaper with community values that attempts to produce balanced reporting. I was therefore surprised to read the following quote included in the article Trans Pride Hastings in the last edition – “When a young person is murdered we have to understand there are real consequences to the hate being spewed out by a very vocal minority.” 

In my view, such an ambiguous statement simply adds to the “increasingly toxic” media conversation referred to in the article, since it is clearly addressed at those who have legitimate concerns about the conflation of sex and gender. The use of inappropriate language such as “hate being spewed out by a very vocal minority” is what leads to the othering of those with different views, generally women, and legitimises the appalling attacks that are constantly made against them. These attacks include incitement to physical violence and even murder as we have seen in the well-documented campaign against J K Rowling.

The article would have been perfectly clear and informative without the inclusion of this inflammatory language, and I hope HIP thinks more carefully before publishing such comment in the future.  

Name withheld 

Save the bluebells

Dear HIP
The Normanhurst Estate development must be stopped (Normanhurst fight hots up in HIP 223) to save the bluebell woods. Once gone they can never be replicated. Besides which the area already has too many ‘lodges’. It is an area that needs raising up, not further dumbing down.

Julia Docherty

The property development company Greystoke is drawing up plans for an extensive holiday complex on the historic Normanhurst Estate in Catsfield.

It would contain 240 holiday lodges, a spa, and other amenities, including a new theatre, and has been dubbed a kind of ‘Center Parcs Village’, covering nearly 180 hectares of the land which contains protected ancient woodland and bluebell woods.

The Normanhurst estate was originally founded by the Brassey family, who also donated the Brassey Institute to Hastings which now houses the central library. 

Normanhurst Court before demolition

When Thomas Brassey died in St Leonards in 1870 aged 65, he had become one of the most influential engineers of the Victorian era.  He was reputed to have built ‘most’ of the world’s railways. Certainly, in Europe, North America, Australia, India and South America he was said to have been responsible for one in every 20 miles of track, and in Britain, one in every three miles.

It made him a fortune amounting to some £600 million in today’s equivalent and enabled him to buy the land which became the Normanhurst Estate a few years before his death. His son, Lord Thomas Brassey, developed the estate and built the now demolished baronial Normanhurst Court in the style of a French château.

The estate was recently sold to Greystoke for £5 million.  They are a privately owned property and investment company based in Oxford, whose portfolio includes more than five thousand homes and eight million square feet of commercial space. Greystoke says the Normanhurst development will have a “contemporary aesthetic with simple geometric forms and a dark colour palette to enable the lodges to meld into the landscape”.  They claim their proposals will restore the landscaped grounds to their former glory and bring “significant benefits to the local area including extra visitor spend in the local economy, supporting the local cultural sector and the establishment of a new theatre”.

Greystoke’s visualisation of part of the holiday complex

However, some local people are concerned it would completely alter the landscape and in particular views from the 1066 Country Walk public footpath which runs right through the proposed development area, within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Many of the trees planted here by the Brassey Family have been marked for felling, and the Forestry Commission have been approached for a felling licence. As a consequence, Rother District Council has applied for a six-month temporary tree preservation order (TPO 433) while the forthcoming planning proposal is evaluated.  Dr John Feltwell, an internationally respected scientist and biologist, lives in the area and caried out a full biological audit of the Catsfield area in November 2021. He has been the registered Tree Warden for Catsfield and Crowhurst for the last 30 years and expressed his deep concern that “all the trees here are under threat and need to be properly assessed within the aim of making the temporary tree preservation order permanent.” He goes on to say that a CAVAT assessment for the parish (Capital Asset Value for Amenity Trees) should be undertaken now to ascertain the value of the finite and most precious tree resource of the Normanhurst Estate.