Land promotion at Park Farm East

Successful strategic land promotion - Park Farm East, Hellingly

Catesby Estates has completed the sale of a 62.4 acre site at Park Farm, Hellingly in East Sussex, to Bellway (August 2025).

The site, known as Park Farm East, is one of two parcels located on Park Farm, and was sold with outline planning permission for 360 homes, of which 35% are affordable, as well as football pitches, allotments, further extension to the 22 acre Hailsham country park, play areas and substantial offsite highways improvements.

The first phase, Park Farm West, was sold by Catesby Estates to Taylor Wimpey in 2021 and includes a further 40.8 acres of land which is currently under development for 351 homes.

Catesby Estates has experienced a particularly strong few months of land sales, with today’s announcement resulting in the land promoter selling more than 277.1 acres of land in areas including Essex and West Sussex.

Catesby Estates has a strong history of success in securing planning permission for multiple residential sites across Wealden District including sites in Willingdon, Hellingly and Crowborough. This consistent track record demonstrates an ability to work collaboratively with the Council and deliver thoughtfully designed developments that respond to local housing needs and planning policy.

Andy Wright, Associate Land Director at Catesby Estates, said “Having sold the first parcel of land at Park Farm in Hellingly to Taylor Wimpey back in 2021, it is great to now hand over the East part of the site to Bellway. Combined, the housebuilders will be bringing over 700 new homes to the area, alongside substantial new public space for the community to enjoy and improvements to the nearby highways.

“We are extremely proud of our position as a leading strategic land promoter and in particular the team’s efforts over the last few months in selling a number of sites with the potential for over 1,450 new homes in key locations across the UK.”

You can find out more about Park Farm West here.

Outline planning permission granted granted in 2023 and includes:

Reduction in final number of proposed homes by 10% from 400 to 360
35% affordable housing
A mix of housing types of 1- 4 bed homes
Football pitches
Allotments
Extension to Hellingly Country Park
Range of play areas including a local equipped area of play (LEAP)
Minimum 10% net biodiversity gain across the site
Green links through the developable area, and the site is designed to prioritise sustainable and active modes of travel, including walking, cycling, bus travel and electric vehicles
A range of off-site improvements to highways and public transport, including upgrades to existing pedestrian/cycle links and local bus stops

Statutory consultees (e.g. Environment Agency, Highways England, Natural England and the Parish Council) and local residents will then have the opportunity to formally comment on the application.

We will continue to work closely with the Council and where necessary will respond to statutory consultees.

However, should you wish to submit further feedback directly to Catesby Estates you can do this via the Have Your Say Form on this website.

An outline planning application seeks to establish whether the scale and nature of a proposed development would be acceptable to the local planning authority, before a second fully detailed planning application is put forward, which is called a Reserved Matters.

A Reserved Matters application typically include information about the layout, scale and appearance of the development. No development can take place on site until the Reserved Matters application has been consented.

Site Background - Park Farm East Hailsham

The land at Park Farm East is located to the north of Hailsham within the parish of Hellingly.

The site was identified as a draft housing allocation for 400 new homes in the now withdrawn Local Plan. Before the draft Local Plan, Park Farm already formed part of the North Hailsham Strategic Development Area – an urban extension area designated under the adopted Core Strategy 2013. (page 42).

The Council is in the process of preparing a new Local Plan, however in the meantime there remains a significant need to deliver new homes in the short term. Wealden District Council can only demonstrate 3.79 years housing supply against their current need, which is far short of the 5 years the Government requires.

Development of the land at Park Farm is in line with the Council’s spatial strategy for development and is located in an area long envisaged as providing an extension to Hailsham. It offers the opportunity to provide high quality, well designed homes to support the Council in meeting housing need in the district.

As part of the development a substantial package of improvements to services, open space and recreation areas and contribution to essential local facilities and strategic services such as roads, schools and healthcare will also be secured.

Public Consultation for strategic land site Park Farm East

Catesby Estates had been promoting both land sites Park Farm West and Park Farm East for residential development and public open space.

We held two consultation events for local residents in September 2019, to view our initial proposals for both land parcels.

Following a virtual planning committee (June 2020), Wealden District Council, in line with the Planning Officer’s recommendation resolved to grant outline planning permission for 370 new homes and public open space on the Park Farm West site.

An Outline Planning Application for Park Farm East was submitted in February 2022.

Promoting your strategic land in Hailsham with Catesby Estates

We’re actively seeking strategic land sites in Hailsham. With a proven track record and strong success rate, landowners in the county are welcome to contact us.

Tell us about your land

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Site Specifics

62.4 Acre Site (25.3 Hectares)
Up to 360 New Homes
Affordable Housing - 35%, which equates to 140 new affordable homes. Affordable housing is a combination of social rented, affordable rent and shared ownership housing, provided to eligible households whose needs are not met by the market. This will assist those looking for their first home, and lower income individuals and families get on the housing ladder in Hellingly.
Housing Mix - Provision of a well-balanced mix of housing, including smaller 1 and 2 bed properties as well as family homes.
Design - Appropriate design and layout to ensure protection of wider landscape views.
Public Open Space - Significant extension to Hellingly Country Park and onsite community open space including equipped areas for formal children’s play and football pitches.
Community Allotments - These will be made available to local residents.
Highways - Park Farm East was identified for development within the draft local Plan. Whilst the plan has now been formally withdrawn, the Council are working towards preparing a new Local Plan with an a much wider strategy for growth than was originally proposed.

Park Farm East already forms part of a strategic development area identified for urban expansion in the Core Strategy 2013 and is well placed to continue to play a key role in the planned growth of the area. The release of this land for development will be dependent on there being sufficient infrastructure to support the number of new homes. Our proposals will be supported by a Transport Assessment to establish the potential impact of the additional traffic, in combination with any other consented schemes and other housing allocations.

We completed Traffic Surveys covering all major junctions within the immediate area prior to COVID 19, and the extent of these surveys was agreed in advance with East Sussex County Council. These surveys are to understand existing volumes of traffic in the study area. We are currently completing the required transport modelling to ascertain the impact of the proposal on the surrounding highway network and to identify any additional improvements which need to be completed to the transport network, beyond the package of measures proposed to be delivered by Wealden District Council and East Sussex County Council.
Public Transport - The site will be supported with the provision of a new bus service which will complete a short loop of the site.
Cycle And Pedestrian Routes - will connect around the site and to the wider public footpath and cycle network.
Drainage - The majority of Park Farm East is within the Environment Agency’s designated Flood Zone 1 the lowest probability of flooding. These areas are assessed as having a less than 1 in 1,000 annual probability of river or sea flooding (<0.1%) in any one year. This is the lowest probability of flooding and is considered suitable for residential properties in national policy.

The area to the north of the site is crossed by the Hurst Haven river which is joined by a small watercourse from the west before heading south towards the Pevensey Levels. Some land alongside the Hurst Haven is within the Environment Agency’s designated Flood Zones 2 and 3. Further work is being undertaken to understand the full extent of this and any development will be located entirely in Flood Zone 1 meaning that the fluvial flood risk will be low.

A full Flood Risk Assessment (FRA) will assess all other sources of flood risk including pluvial, groundwater, sewer, reservoir and artificial drainage. Our proposals include the provision of a sustainable drainage system which protects the Pevensey Levels and existing and proposed housing from flooding. Drainage improvements to New Road are also proposed to help alleviate flash flood events in high rainfall.
Ecology - We have completed a full suite of ecology surveys including Great Crested Newts, Bats, Dormice, Badgers, Reptiles and breeding birds. See further commentary on the left.