RESIDENTS are celebrating after councillors agreed with more than 600 objectors and turned down housebuilding plans on the edge of the Downs.

Campaigners hugged after Brighton and Hove City Council planning committee voted six to five against plans to build 45 homes in Meadow Vale off Falmer Road in Ovingdean.

It is the latest victory for residents against targets for more than 1,000 homes on the urban fringe under the City Plan.

Plans for 125 homes in Portslade were voted down last month.

The resilience of that fightback is set to be tested on appeal. Developer Crest Nicholson has indicated an appeal is likely while Lightwood Strategic director James Sorrentino told The Argus ahead of yesterday’s meeting he would also pursue an appeal.

Labour committee member Clare Moonan warned the council could be facing “considerable costs” if it lost an appeal.

But jubilant residents were undeterred by the prospect, claiming an extra six months would give them time to show the importance of a wildlife corridor incorporating Meadow Vale.

In rejecting the scheme, councillors said it would damage the village feel of Woodingdean, Rottingdean and Ovingdean and would exacerbate already poor local air quality which breaches EU rules while questioning the effectiveness of mitigation plans to preserve fauna and flora.

Developers had proposed digging up the nationally rare red star thistle and replanting elsewhere on the site as well as introducing ecological management to other nearby sites.

The rejection decision went against the advice of planning officers, the urban fringe assessment and the Planning Inspector who agreed to the principle of development during the appeal of a previous bid to build 85 homes.

Green Councillor Leo Littman said the council had got it wrong by including Meadow Vale in the urban fringe assessment but with new information, he was convinced it was not suitable for any development.

Consultant ecologist Jackie Thompson, for the Deans Preservation Society, said Meadow Vale was a diverse site which had been ignored and had only been omitted from being designated a wildlife site because inspectors were unable to get access.

She said the site was more diverse than the best chalk grassland site in the county, Malling Down in Lewes, and development would set a dangerous legal precedent.

Dr Dan Simpson, ecologist for the applicant, said there was no justifiable ecological reason to refuse the application and described allegations his methods were flawed as “borderline slanderous”.

Russell Smith, of Ovingdean Residents and Preservation Society, said: “We don’t want to be part of one giant conurbation. If you keep building between the gaps, it will become a sprawling mess.”

FACTFILE

Surrey-based developer Lightwood Strategic first made public plans to build up to 315 homes on the edge of the South Downs in February 2014.

The scale of the project was reduced to 85 homes which was rejected by Brighton and Hove City Council planning committee in January 2015 and on appeal in March 2016.

The latest rejected bid was for outline planning for 45 one to five bedroom houses including ten at affordable rent and eight shared ownership homes – meeting council requirements of 40 per cent affordable housing.

Since submitting the latest application, the proposal has undergone significant amendments to reduce the development site, increase the open space and remove food growing and play areas.

COUNCILLORS TORN ON HOUSING VERSUS ECOLOGY DEBATE

COUNCILLORS were torn by the opposing needs for more housing and preserving ecology in the hair’s width decision on Meadow Vale homes.

Green Councillor Phelim MacCafferty said the Deans were only villages because they were built on land which would now have been included in the national park.

Labour Kevin Allen said in any other context having 40 per cent affordable housing along with other developer payments would have been acceptable but ecologist Jackie Thompson’s “very persuasive and authoritative presentation” had brought him up short.

Party colleague Clare Moonan said all three political parties had signed up to the City Plan which agreed the urban fringe needed to play its part to meet housing need and urged fellow councillors to take the broader view.

Independent councillor Michael Inkpin-Leissner said the people of Rottingdean were good at protesting against housing but Brighton and Hove had very little space to expand.

He added: “We have to compromise whether we like it or not, we can’t turn the clock back to Victorian times though some would like to.”

Conservative housing spokeswoman Carol Theobald said the loss of green land would remove the Deans village feel.

Fellow Tory Lynda Hyde criticised Lightwood director James Sorrentino’s “arrogant statement” to The Argus calling for the city council’s planning powers to be removed if the application was rejected.