After being allocated for development for many years, construction on the Blackfriars site began in Spring 2022 with Breheny Civil Engineering being responsible for delivering a new spine road through the development connecting Harrier Lane and The Spinney.

Much of the infrastructure work undertaken by Breheny has been made possible through the award of Homes England funding to the Council from the Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund. The site is being developed in phases and the current programme is expected to complete during 2026. The new scheme will provide 200 new homes with a mixture of houses and maisonettes available for sale and rent.

Rother DC Housing Company has continued to review options to improve efficiencies and design improvement across the housing scheme and a new planning application has now been submitted for determination. The aim of these improvements is to increase the efficiency of the homes on the site without compromising the quality of those homes or the overall development. The improvements will, for example, provide a better mix of house types better suited to the market, allowing more people to be housed in the development once completed. Public amenity space and greenery will remain a key priority throughout the scheme.

Before finalising the new design, we held a public consultation in June 2023 allowing the public to feedback on the redesign alongside an extensive pre-application process with Rother District Council’s Planning department.

The items below summarise the new design objectives captured by the redesign:

• Provide a range of Nationally Described Space Standards (NDSS) compliant family homes across the site.
• Incorporate 5% wheelchair accessible units (& parking) in line with planning policy.
• Optimise dwelling mix by reducing the number of maisonettes and replacing them with an increased number of family houses.
• Improve the fabric of the building envelopes and provide lower energy homes site wide.
• Introduce a tenure blind materials palette which is reflective of the local vernacular.
• Improve site permeability and connect to existing Public Right of Way.
• Introduce clear street hierarchy comprising of the spine road (consented design), secondary access roads and shared surface private drives / mews streets.
• Introduce adequate turning heads to all secondary roads to provide improved access for emergency vehicles and refuse lorries.
• Provide on plot parking where possible.
• Provide rear garden access to majority of units via on plot parking, or through the introduction of designated access paths.
• Integrate refuse and cycle storage in rear gardens or through the introduction of designated storage areas within front porches.
• Introduce communal refuse and cycle stores where required.
• Reduce extent of retaining walls and improve gardens to dwellings.
• Reduce the overall hard standing across the site.
• Reduce the amount of cut and fill.
• Minimise overlooking to neighbouring properties.

For more information about the scheme including and ongoing activity on site, please refer to our monthly updates page. You can also find more information via our FAQ’s pages.

Planning Decisions

More information on the planned development can be found within the planning documents on Rother District Council’s Planning Portal.

The new s73 Planning Application formally submitted in July 2023 for the redesign of the housing scheme can be found here RR/2023/1487/P.

The Outline Planning Approval (including full planning permission for the road) can be found here RR/2019/604/P.

Planning Archive

Reserved Matters Application determined in April 2021 RR/2020/2307/P.

s73 Planning Application determined in October 2022 RR/2023/1487/P.

To review the consultation boards displayed at our consultation event please see below

Contact

If you have any queries about the current ongoing works to the road construction and site wide work, please contact Breheny Civil Engineering Site Agent, Mr Harayshan Pirabaharan in the first instance on 07399 528626.  

For any queries about the housing scheme please contact RotherDCHousingCompany@rother.gov.uk

About Us

The Council approved the establishment of a Local Authority Housing Company in December 2019, and Rother DC Housing Company was legally incorporated in October 2020 with the main aim to increase supply of all housing and to deliver 1,000 new homes by 2035.

Still in it’s infancy, the Company has taken on it’s first major project at the Blackfriars site in Battle which has been allocated for development for many years and been made possible through Rother District Council securing Homes England funding to enable the site to be built on. The development, which features 200 homes to include affordable homes, will provide much needed high-quality homes for the residents of Battle.

All 200 homes will be designed to be highly sustainable contemporary units that are future proofed for the transition to Zero Carbon, whilst respecting local heritage and landscape.

The Company vision is to build beyond our current Blackfriar’s project, recognising the immediate challenges of trying to achieve all our objectives in equal measure and to ensure each scheme remains deliverable to achieve our principle aim of increasing the supply of homes within Rother.