Rural life is threatened

This is the view of a parish councillor who is so frustrated by the results that he is considering standing down.

Barry Dickens from Fletching has a list of more than 20 farms in his parish which have lost farmhouses and outbuildings to development. But he says that when locals wanted to build to keep their families in the village more modest plans were refused.

The effects of the planning policies are far reaching, says Mr Dickens. When farmers pull out there is nobody to maintain ditches and hedgerows. Contractors called in to work on the fields will not do those jobs, he said, so ditches flood causing problems not seen in the past.

And he says those who move into converted farm buildings were not the type who contributed to village life. They usually worked away leaving home early and coming back late or they used the properties as holiday homes.

Mr Dickens, a councillor for 20 years, said the parish council seemed to have no say in what was happening or any influence on Wealden District Council even though they were sent plans and asked for their views. 'I am so frustrated that I will probably step down at the next elections.'

Locals were being priced out of the property market, he said. His wife's family had lived in the village for many years but now her parents wanted to move into a bungalow in Uckfield and much as Mr Dickens would like to he and his wife could not afford to buy the family home. His two children would also like to live in Fletching but cannot afford the high property prices.

Blame

But Wealden councillor Mrs Sylvia Tidy, who holds the district's economic development portfolio which includes a land management initiative to keep the agricultural community on the land, said Wealden could not be blamed for what was happening to village life.

'In the case of Fletching, as in the case of all villages where farms have disappeared, it is not because of Wealden policy. Wealden follows Government policy which says ''We don't want farming to carry on, we don't want farmers to carry on'',' said Mrs Tidy.

Wealden was following Government policy to help farmers diversify and if possible bring very old and re-usable buildings back into use, first of all for employment schemes, but if that was not possible then for conversion into dwellings.

Mrs Tidy said there were other initiatives designed to keep the remaining farmers. 'Wealden is doing its level best to try to keep the remainder of the farming community on the land and doing what it should be doing in developing and keeping the countryside the way we have seen it for generations, but it is very difficult.'

Referring to planning applications that Mr Dickens cited as being submitted by locals and turned down Mrs Tidy said that one from the Kerwood family who run a clay pigeon shoot at North Hall had not been a good plan but they were working on a new one and she thought progress would be made towards approval in the end.

Another was from Mr Graham Tapp, of Splaynes Green, a plant contractor who wanted to build a home for his son to keep him in the village and involved with the business.

But that application said Mrs Tidy was for a site within an area designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

'I think the planners are right to be as strict as they can be and I know that doesn't help some individuals, however it does preserve the countryside,' said Mrs Tidy.