Bexhill residents' renewed fears over flooding at new housing development

Barratt Homes is currently building more than 100 homes on land off Pebsham Lane.

But Robert Budgen, of Alford Way, has repeatedly warned about the risk of flooding and believes he has been proved right.

He said: “Not only is my garden retaining more rain water I can see the flood risk to the new houses at the bottom of our gardens.

“The road by the new houses was still flooded on Tuesday (June 28).

“It’s ridiculous to build houses there as it’s a known flood plain. There are going to be a lot of problems.

“The water now has nowhere to go and comes straight down from the hill onto a concrete base where the new homes are being built.”

Barrett was given planning permission by Rother District Council in May last year to build 108 homes, together with associated car and cycle parking, open space and play areas.

Other residents in Alford Way expressed their concerns to the housing development ahead of it being given planning permission by Rother District Council.

John Shotts said the infrastructure was not available to support such a large development and he said it could bring an extra 2,000 cars to the area.

Under the scheme more than 230 car parking spaces will be created.

Malcolm Westcott, senior technical manager for Barratt Southern Counties, said: “As many local residents will be aware, warnings from the Environment Agency this week predicted extremely heavy rainfall throughout East Sussex which has resulted in some localised water surface flooding.

“We have very efficient drainage proposals in place for our new homes which have been fully assessed and approved by both the Environment Agency and local planning authority.

“In addition to this, as with all of our developments, we provide additional drainage solutions to our newly built homes after construction has finished.

“We welcome discussions with any concerned residents on this particular issue, or any other construction-related matter.”

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