PLANS for a new waste vehicle depot in Lower Dicker have been given the go-ahead.
Wealden District Council’s Majors Planning Committee approved the authority’s own application for a waste vehicle storage facility at Knights Farm Employment Park on Thursday (July 23).
The development will also include a ground-mounted solar panel array to help power the depot.
The committee heard from the council’s planning agent, James Guthrie of Quod. He said: “This [development] will deliver some very critical new public infrastructure for the council.
“It replaces the existing depot in Amberstone, which dates back to the 1950s. The current facility is very constrained in terms of its size, layout and construction and it is no longer fit for purpose.”
He added: “The new facility will provide the operational space that has been deemed to be required to accommodate [a] new expanded fleet, including new vehicles required to deliver new statutory services such as separate waste food collections.”
While recommended for approval, the proposals saw concerns raised by Arlington Parish Council that waste vehicles may use Coldharbour Road as a cut-through route. It said this would be inappropriate for the road’s conditions.
The parish council has also raised concerns around the scheme’s location, flood risk and potential landscape impact.
Council planning officers said their recommendation followed an “extensive technical assessment in respect of highways, flood risk and drainage, landscape and visual impact, ecology, arboriculture, heritage, residential amenity and climate change.”
They said responsible authorities had 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 development would be built, had not objected.
The depot is expected to be made up of a vehicle workshop; administrative offices; and crew facilities. These would cover a floorspace of approximately 1,668.5 square metres and have a maximum ridge height of nine metres, a report notes.
It would also include areas of hardstanding for waste vehicles and a car park for staff and visitors.
The solar farm would be expected to cover an area of 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. This would also serve the Wealden Community Sports Hub, which is currently 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.
