Fishers Gate House, Withyham, Hartfield, TN7 4BB Data via plota.co.uk

WD/2025/2885/F - Full Refused

Proposal

New portal frame barn to accommodate loose boxes, feed store and back room for private use. Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
22 Dec 2025
✓
Validated
20 Mar 2026
✗
Refused
28 Jul 2026
Appeal
Not lodged

Refused on 28 Jul 2026 · Delegated · Last checked 11 Sept 2026

Documents 27

All documents on the council site ↗

Site constraints 4

High Weald National Landscape
Great weight to conserving the landscape; major development restricted.
Previously an area of outstanding natural beauty, which is still the designation in law. Since 2023 authorities must seek to further its purpose, not merely have regard to it.
Public footpath about 15 m away
Matters where it crosses or adjoins the site: obstructing a path without a diversion order is an offence, and work cannot start until the order is confirmed.
Compiled from highway authority data, not the legal definitive map. A few authorities have not published, so no path shown is not proof there is none.
Agricultural land, grade 3a
Best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s) agrees.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 1
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · Not green belt · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 6 October 2026. The pin for this application is the centre of its postcode rather than the building, so distances to nearby designations are measured from the postcode and can be out by the width of the postcode area. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

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Important details

Council
Wealden
Application type
Full
Postcode
TN7 4BB
Received
22 Dec 2025
Validated
20 Mar 2026
Ward
Hartfield
Parish
Withyham
Case officer
Show
Target decision
3 Jul 2026
Decision
Refusal
Decision date
28 Jul 2026
Decision level
Delegated
Applicant
Show
Agent
Delavals Design

How this decision compares

Decided in 130 days from validation, 102 days slower than Wealden's median of 28 for agricultural works. Refused, as 40% of agricultural works here are.

84%decided within 8 weeks
60%approved
92decided in the last year

Plota live figures for agricultural works decided by Wealden in the last twelve months, from validation. Wealden decision record →

Consultation & key dates

Consultation
26 Mar 2026
Comments by
18 Apr 2026
Site or press notice
26 Mar 2026
Wealden
Planning Authority Score
4.2/10
Below average
#188 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Householder decisions

Wealden ranks #132 out of 296 councils for householder decision speed. Householder applications are slightly less likely to be approved here (88%) than the national average (90%).

These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
Wealden decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
84%
Overall approval rate
Below avg (87%) #231 of 296
88%
Householder approved
Below avg (90%) #227 of 296
69%
Decided in 8 weeks
Above avg (63%) #132 of 296
40%
Extended time limit
Below avg (41%) #156 of 296
66%
Minor dwellings approved
170 decided (1-9 homes)
78%
Major dwellings approved
32 decided (10+ homes)
74%
Change of use approved
82 decided
1,361
Total decisions
220 refused in the year to March 2026