Wealden Local Plan: Crowborough's 10 housing sites named

Wealden has named the sites where it proposes to build for the next 16 years, and ten of them are in and around Crowborough. Between them they are allocated 356 homes. The largest is Beechenwood Farm, off Pleasant View Road, with 120.

From Monday 21 September, residents have six weeks to make formal representations on the Proposed Submission Local Plan before it goes to a government inspector. The deadline is 5pm on Monday 2 November. (Wealden District Council, 18 September 2026)

A special Cabinet and Full Council approved publication on Friday 18 September. (Cabinet decisions, 18 September 2026)

The Crowborough sites

The plan allocates these sites in and around the town, each with its net number of homes (Proposed Submission Wealden Local Plan 2026-2042, chapter 13):

• Land at Beechenwood Farm, Pleasant View Road: 120 (a strategic site)
• Land at Steel Cross Farm, Green Lane: 95
• Land adjacent to the London Road and Pilmer Road junction: 40
• Land at Byeways, Palesgate Lane: 30
• Land at the junction of Eridge Road and the A26, Steel Cross: 20
• Land at Millbrook Road: 15
• Land to the rear of Cooks Corner Farm, north of London Road: 15
• Spring Cottage, Eridge Road: 10
• Kingswood, Luxford Lane: 6
• Crowborough Police Station, Crowborough Hill: 5

Nine of the ten are in Crowborough parish. The Cooks Corner Farm site sits over the boundary in Withyham parish, on the town’s edge.

Beechenwood Farm, the big one

The Beechenwood Farm allocation covers 8.26 hectares and sits entirely within the High Weald National Landscape. The plan attaches conditions before its 120 homes can be approved:

• built development kept to the southern part of the site
• a minimum 25 metre undeveloped buffer to the ancient woodland at Beechenwood, unless surveys show a smaller one would do no harm
• a two storey height limit, to respect the National Landscape
• a minimum 20% biodiversity net gain
• occupation phased to match new sewerage infrastructure

(Policy CR6, Proposed Submission Wealden Local Plan)

16,833 homes, and 6,687 the plan does not provide for

The plan proposes a minimum of 16,833 homes across the district between April 2026 and March 2042, or 1,052 a year. That is 72% of the government’s standard method figure for Wealden, which works out at 1,465 a year, or 23,440 over the period. The council’s report says the remaining need, 6,687 homes, is unmet: it has asked neighbouring councils and others to take some of it, and none has agreed. (Cabinet report, 18 September 2026)

That 72% figure matters. An inspector will test at examination whether the lower requirement is justified.

Crowborough takes a modest share of the growth. The plan’s own distribution table puts each parish’s total to 2042, counting homes already committed plus the new allocations (Table 4, Proposed Submission Wealden Local Plan):

Most growth goes to the south of the district, around Hailsham and Hellingly, and to the A22/A26 corridor south of Uckfield.

What Regulation 19 is, and is not

This is not another consultation on options. It is the last chance to comment on the version of the plan the council intends to submit for independent examination. Representations should address two questions (Let’s Talk Wealden):

• whether the plan is legally compliant
• whether it is sound: positively prepared, justified, effective and consistent with national policy

Representations cannot be anonymous. Names and comments will be published and passed to the inspector.

Councillor Ian Tysh, Alliance for Wealden (Green Party) and lead councillor for Planning and Environment, said: “We know that decisions about future growth and development can be complex and have a significant impact on local communities.” (Wealden District Council, 18 September 2026)

Key dates

• Monday 21 September: representation period opens
• 5pm, Monday 2 November: representations close
• Before the end of 2026: council intends to submit the plan to the Planning Inspectorate
• During 2027: independent examination
• End of 2027: the council’s target for adopting the plan

(Let’s Talk Wealden)

What it means for you

If a site above is near you, this window is the formal route to be heard, and the last one before an inspector takes over. Read the plan first, identify the policy or site you are commenting on, and frame your points around soundness or legal compliance. General objections to growth carry little weight at this stage.

The council prefers responses through its online portal, with a downloadable form as the alternative. Consultation material will also be available at inspection locations across the district.

The plan covers the whole district outside the South Downs National Park. It is separate from the Home Office’s Crowborough Army Camp application, which runs through its own process. Decisions on individual applications in the meantime are tracked on our Crowborough planning news page, and the market context is on Crowborough house prices.