Wealden District Council’s Majors Planning Committee is set to consider proposals for a new waste vehicle storage and depot at Knights Farm Employment Park in Lower Dicker.
The application, submitted by the council itself, also includes plans for a ground-mounted photovoltaic (solar) panel array to serve the proposed depot.
Committee members had been due to consider the application at a meeting last month, but discussion was delayed to allow for additional work.
In a report recommending the committee approve the proposals, a council planning spokesman said: “The proposed depot is intended to provide modern operational facilities for Wealden District Council’s Waste Management service, enabling the relocation of the existing depot at Amberstone.
“The current Amberstone facility dates from the 1950s and is constrained in terms of its size, layout and construction, such that it is no longer well suited to support a modern waste collection and street cleansing operation.
“The development would provide sufficient operational space to accommodate an expanded fleet, including vehicles required to deliver new statutory services such as separate food waste collections.”
Arlington Parish Council has raised concerns that waste vehicles may use Coldharbour Road as a cut-through. It says this would be inappropriate for the road’s conditions.
It has also raised concerns around the scheme’s location, flood risk and potential landscape impact.
Council planning officers say the scheme has undergone “extensive technical assessment in respect of highways, flood risk and drainage, landscape and visual impact, ecology, arboriculture, heritage, residential amenity and climate change.”
They say responsible authorities have raised no objections “subject to planning conditions and a Section 106 Agreement securing the necessary highway obligations.”
Hellingly Parish Council, which represents the area where the depot would be built, has not objected.
If approved, the depot facility would be made up of a vehicle workshop; administrative offices; and crew facilities. These would cover approximately 1,668.5 square metres and have a maximum ridge height of nine metres, a report states.
It would also have hardstanding for waste vehicles and a car park for staff and visitors.
The solar farm would be expected to cover approximately 4,265 square metres with its battery storage infrastructure.
Vehicular access to the site would be via a new roundabout junction onto the A267. It would also serve the Wealden Community Sports Hub, which is under construction on the opposite side of the A267.
For further information see application reference WD/2025/2402/MAJ on the Wealden District Council planning website.
