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12 High Street, Polegate, BN26 5AA

WD/2026/0074/FRFull - RetrospectiveRefused
Full

Refused on 8 May 2026

Council decision: RefusalDelegated (officer decision)2 reasons for refusal

Approximate site (title boundary)
Boundary © HM Land Registry, © Ordnance Survey · details

This information is subject to Crown copyright and database rights 2026 and is reproduced with the permission of HM Land Registry. The polygons (including the associated geometry, namely x, y co-ordinates) are subject to Crown copyright and database rights 2026 Ordnance Survey AC0000851063. Conditions of use.

Proposal

RETROSPECTIVE APPLICATION FOR THE CONVERSION OF BASEMENT AND PART GROUND FLOOR, AND SINGLE STOREY ADDITION TO FORM FLAT.

Received
13 January 2026
Decision level
Delegated (officer decision)
Ward
Polegate North
  1. Received13 Jan
  2. Validated19 Jan
  3. Consult.17 Mar
  4. Target16 Mar
  5. Decided8 May

Decided in 109 days (council typically 56)

About this application

This is an application to amend a permission at 12 HIGH STREET, POLEGATE, BN26 5AA. Wealden has handled 904 applications of this type. This one was decided in 115 days, 8 weeks longer than Wealden's typical decision time. There have been 2 other applications at this address. In the past year there have been 20 applications across Polegate North. We hold 896 applications in total for the BN26 postcode area.

79% of amendment applications at Wealden District Council were approved. Across all application types, the council typically decides in about 8 weeks (median).

Based on decided applications received in the last 3 years.Planning something similar? See what gets approved on your street

Why it was refused

  1. The change of use from retail to residential floor space at ground floor level within the designated main shopping, as designed within the Wealden Local Plan 1998, is contrary to saved policy SH6 and would result in the loss of key retail floor space for Polegate High Street. In addition, it would result in a significantly constrained retail unit which would limit the pool of potential occupiers, therefore increasing the risk of non-vacancy and weakening the flexibility, viability and development of the town’s retail offer. It would be contrary to Saved Policy SH6 of the Wealden Local Plan 1998 and Spatial Planning Objectives SPO4 and SPO7 of the Wealden Core Strategy Local Plan 2013, along with paragraph 128(a) and others of the NPPF.
  2. The use of the rear extension's flat roof as a balcony would be harmful to the neighbour's amenity, through loss of privacy and overlooking of their main amenity area. This would result in a detrimental impact to the neighbouring amenity, conflicting with policy EN27 and HG10 of the Wealden Local Plan 1998 and the requirements of the NPPF.

From the council's decision notice.

Application details

Postcode
BN26 5AA
Application type
Full - Retrospective
Scale / size
Small
Parish
Polegate

Planning application dates

Date validated
19 January 2026
Consultation expiry
17 March 2026
Consultation start
10 February 2026
Consultation end
17 March 2026
Target decision date
16 March 2026
Committee meeting
7 May 2026

Applicant and agent

Agent address
2 Birling Way Uckfield East Sussex TN22 1LP

Planning decision

Statutory period
56 days

Publicity

Site notice start
10 February 2026

Additional information

Documents
14

Site constraints

Checking the site
2/3
Council recordsAppealsFlood risk

Designations that overlap or adjoin the site outline.

  • Flood zone 1: Low probability (rivers and sea)

Not published by this council, so not checked: Article 4 directions and tree preservation orders. Ask the council if these matter.

Also checked, none recorded (22)

flood storage areas, conservation areas, listed buildings, green belt, scheduled monuments, World Heritage Sites, World Heritage Site buffer zones, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields, Heritage at Risk entries, nutrient neutrality catchments, national parks, National Landscapes, SSSIs, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, Ramsar sites, ancient woodland, national nature reserves, local nature reserves, heritage coasts and brownfield registers.

A guide only, from official open data; it is not a planning search. Flood zones cover rivers and sea, not surface water.

Data © Crown copyright and others · sources and licences

Contains public sector information from planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG and local planning authorities), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. The Historic England GIS Data contained in this material was obtained on 2026-11-03. The most publicly available up to date Historic England GIS Data can be obtained from HistoricEngland.org.uk.

© Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2026. All rights reserved. Flood Map for Planning, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: Wealden

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