We were pleased to see a piece on Lewes Phoenix Rising’s campaign to fight imminent development of the North Street/Phoenix Industrial Estate area of Lewes.

However, we would like to make very clear this isn’t a battle of jobs/culture versus homes. As our alternative masterplan – which can be viewed on our website – makes clear, it is feasible to build the 390 homes required on the site and still retain substantial space for the businesses, social enterprises and cultural spaces that are so essential to our town’s character, its economy and the future employment opportunities of our young people.

Our key concern is that the plans put forward by Santon and Lewes District Council will deliver homes that the majority of Lewes people cannot afford.

At the same time, we believe 50 businesses and 400-plus jobs will be displaced to build them, with only a limited business space provided in recompense. That’s a perilous double-loss for our town.

The plans we have drawn up with a national team of architects, planners and consultants look to build close-knit, smaller homes, as is the guidance on ecologically-sustainable build for the 21st century.

Building a higher density of housing, as part of our proposal, means there is space for an additional 48 genuinely affordable homes (including innovative work-live units at social rents) and we can save and renovate the old Phoenix Ironworks to help accommodate current and future businesses. This could create a more walkable, sustainable and – yes – affordable neighbourhood. Plus it’s more in keeping with Lewes’s historic town centre than the suburban cul-de-sac approach so beloved by for-profit developers looking to sell homes at higher prices.

We invite your readers to go to lewesphoenixrising.com to see all our plans.

This 14-acre site stands to be one of the largest-ever developments in a UK national park. It deserves to be something special and unique. We are fighting to ensure that it is.

Juliet Oxborrow

Lewes Phoenix Rising management team