Viva Lewes June 2015 Issue #105

north street
Shelter from the storm
Flood protection for the proposed North Street Quarter
Building on a flood
plain is, by its very
nature, a risky business.
But it’s a risk worth
taking, according to
the latest Joint Core
Strategy prepared by
Lewes District Council
and the South Downs
National Park Authority.
In fact, it’s a risk
that’s been taken locally for many years, as the
victims of the November 1960 and October 2000
floods will attest.
The proposed ‘North Street Quarter’ development
by Lewes District Council and Santon North Street
has put flood protection back in the news. As well
as protecting their new houses and commercial
properties, the developers plan to protect existing
houses in the Talbot Terrace (Pells) area.
Paul Deane, a Lewes-based Chartered Civil
Engineer who’s previously worked in Flood Risk
Management for the Environment Agency, has
taken an in-depth look at Santon’s Flood Risk
Assessment. His comments, published on lewesphoenixrising.com,
conclude “the proposed flood
defences are broadly considered to be the best viable
solution for this location.” But not everyone’s
happy with the way those plans have progressed.
I talk to John Webber, a local resident and a member
of the Pells Residents working group. He says
Santon’s representatives assured him they would
defend the Pells area during the first phase of any
construction, yet their planning submission shows
these defences won’t be completed until phase 3.
Not only does the proposed development increase
the risk of flooding, he tells me, but it also means
the Pells defences wouldn’t be put in place if the
development stopped after phase 2. John’s not the
only person making these
claims, which I put to
Clive Wilding, Project
Director of Santon
North Street.
Clive describes the flood
defences as being “phased
in line with relocation
and development plans”,
noting that some businesses
could be relocated
from ‘phase 1’ – the part of the site due for imminent
redevelopment – to buildings in the ‘phase
2’ area, enabling these people to remain on-site
during the construction period. Apparently this
would avoid clearing the whole site to implement
all the flood defences in phase 1.
However, a potential compromise is now being
suggested. In a statement, Clive Wilding tells me
“following further discussions with Pells residents,
we are proposing to amend the planning application
to bring forward some of the Pells flood
defence work so that it is protected from the west
in phase 1 of the construction, this will protect
Pelham Terrace housing and will go part way to
assisting the area and will also allow the new landscaping
and planting to settle quickly.”
Although the changes could benefit homeowners,
they won’t protect the Pells Pool or the adjacent
park; Santon says this protection can’t be completed
“until our tenants in phase 3 are relocated
into a new completed phase 1”.
Whether this reassures local residents depends on
many factors, including an issue of trust: trust in
the developer, trust in the calculations, trust in the
construction. Those who remember the flooding
of fifteen years ago are understandably nervous.
Mark Bridge
northstreetqtr.co.uk
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