Gotwick Manor

Client: Chandler Family
Local Planning Authority: Wealden District Coucil

Gotwick Manor was a substantial early-20th Century Arts and Crafts style house. It is set in a picturesque country estate, situated to the east of East Grinstead, near to the hamlet of Hammerwood. The main dwelling is situated to the eastern side of the estate and is supported by a range of cottages and outbuildings, as well as a livery yard and sand school.

In March 2021 the Chandler family took ownership of the estate with a vision of creating a 21st century estate, which does not burden but supports the environment and is a pleasant place for people to live, work and visit. They wanted to:

· Maintain the estate with Gotwick Manor at the forefront.
· Make meaningful enhancements to the natural environment and biodiversity across all 514 acres of the estate, in particular to create an exemplary woodland to support biodiversity.
· Make improvements to housing and other buildings on the estate to save energy, improve thermal performance, and make them more pleasant to live and work in.
· Ensure estate buildings are properly maintained, including removal of harmful materials such as asbestos where identified.
· Minimise all waste.
· Making the estate carbon neutral, and ideally a net exporter of renewable energy.

Being built in 1910, the manor house was very inefficient and had an enormous carbon footprint. Investigations began therefore on the best way to bring the property up to date and reduce its impact on the planet. It swiftly became apparent to the project team that retrofitting the property would be a costly exercise, and still not result in an ideal outcome. It was therefore decided that replacing the dwelling would be investigated and Squires Planning were instructed to assist with taking the proposal through planning.

Given the scale of the proposal, it was advised that early engagement with the Council was wise and so a pre-application advice request was progressed. Draft plans were prepared illustrating the new dwelling alongside other evidence needed to support the proposal. Unfortunately, despite meeting officers to discuss the proposal the response from the Council officers was:

“In our view, the proposed replacement would not comply with local policies which aim to conserve and enhance the character and natural beauty of the AONB, as well as safeguarding the non-designated heritage asset… [officers therefore] do not consider that the planning balance has been tilted in favour of the proposal”

Given this response, we reviewed the officer’s areas of concern but were certain that the proposal did in fact comply with relevant policy. Some concern was raised at this time that attempts may be made to list the building and advice on the matter was sought from Counsel. Detailed design of the proposal took place, alongside additional work on heritage, ecology, character, drainage, energy efficiency, and trees to address the concerns raised by officers at the pre-application stage. The final design resulted in 62% increase in gross internal area (GIA) from 917m2 to 1,489m2. Several wider benefits were also demonstrated including:

· reduced water consumption of the manor house from 3,007m3 per annum to 337m3, (88.8% reduction)

· carbon dioxide emissions generated by the site being reduced annually from 56,014kg to zero through a large PV array and batteries generating all energy needed.

· rainwater harvesting, collecting rainwater for use in the newly created walled garden.

· biodiversity net gain: +145.19% (habitat units) and 1,070.78% (hedgerow units)

On submission of the application, our attention turned to securing political support for the proposal. We actively engaged with the local District Councillor who called the application in to committee – preventing it from being refused under delegated powers. We also met the Parish Council who unanimously supported the application. When officers then visited site, they accepted the merits of the case being presented and confirmed that the proposal had their support.

Despite objections being received from The Victorian Society and the Council for British Archaeology the proposal was supported by Heritage, Design, and Planning officers at the Council allowing the case officer to conclude:

“In this instance, while the objections to the proposal have been noted, it is concluded that on balance, taking account of the above, the impact of the development, along with other material planning considerations, conditional planning permission should be granted.”

The proposal was duly granted planning permission under delegated powers with minimal conditions, allowing the Chandler family to proceed with the creation of their 21st century estate.

The consultant team for this project comprised Squires Planning, Cowan Architects, Blue Willow Heritage, Impact Sustainability, Tully D'Ath Consultants, PJC Consultancy & CT Ecology.