Pear Tree Cottage The Street Litlington East Sussex BN26 5RB Data via plota.co.uk

SDNP/26/03128/TCA - Tree in a Conservation Area Refused

Proposal

G1 - 5no Sycamore trunks - Remove to ground level Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
11 Aug 2026
✗
Refused
2 Sept 2026
Appeal
Not lodged

Refused on 2 Sept 2026 · SDNPA Delegated Decision · Last checked 4 Sept 2026

Site constraints 11

Grade II listed: Pear Tree Cottage Well Cottage
List entry 1043109 · 9 m away · 8 more listed buildings within 150 m (8 Grade II)
Listed building consent is needed for work that affects the special interest of a listed building, inside or out, on top of planning permission. Setting can be a consideration for buildings nearby; there is no fixed radius.
Show the other 8 with distances
Historic England ↗
South Downs National Park
The park authority decides applications here. Great weight to conserving the landscape; major development restricted.
Landscape, scenic beauty and wildlife carry great weight, and major development is only allowed in exceptional circumstances.
Litlington, Cuckmere Valley conservation area
Demolition needs planning permission and permitted development is restricted.
The council must give weight to preserving or enhancing the area's character and appearance. Not every council has published its boundaries as open data.
Agricultural land, grade 3b
Not 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.
South Downs Way 13 m away
Matters where it crosses or adjoins the site; the route and its margin are protected.
National nature reserve 153 m away: Seven Sisters
Work nearby can need a habitats assessment.
Harm to a protected site is only accepted where there is no alternative and an overriding public interest.
Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 1
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Radon affected area, class 6
An estimated 30% or more of homes reach the radon action level. Indicative for the 1 km square, which takes the highest class found in it; a radon test gives the answer for a building.
From the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency indicative atlas. Under building regulations, as the BRE guide BR 211 (2023) sets out, new buildings and extensions need basic radon protection from class 3 in England and Wales and from class 2 in Scotland, and full protection from class 5. The class at the site itself, from the detailed BGS map, decides which.
UKHSA radon ↗
SSSI 167 m away: Seaford to Beachy Head SSSI
Natural England may need consulting, depending on what is proposed.
Sites of special scientific interest are the best wildlife and geological sites in the country. Development likely to harm one is rarely permitted.
Also on the record
Nature recovery project: Seaford to Eastbourne: Drink-in the Downs; Nature improvement area: South Downs Way Ahead.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · Not green belt · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 6 October 2026. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency (radon, contains BGS materials © UKRI) 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.

Sales history 2

Last sold for £670,000 in October 2019. Semi-detached house, freehold.

4 October 2019£670,000
21 November 2013£541,000

Sale prices from HM Land Registry's price paid record, matched to this application by its address.

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Important details

Application type
Tree in a Conservation Area
Postcode
BN26 5RB
Received
11 Aug 2026
Validated
11 Aug 2026
Ward
East Dean Ward
Parish
Cuckmere Valley Parish Council
Case officer
Show
Target decision
22 Sept 2026
Decision
Objection
Decision date
2 Sept 2026
Decision level
SDNPA Delegated Decision
Applicant
Show

How this decision compares

Decided in 22 days from validation, 21 days faster than South Downs's median of 43 for tree and landscaping works. Refused, as 3% of tree and landscaping works here are.

76%decided within 8 weeks
97%approved
445decided in the last year

Plota live figures for tree and landscaping works decided by South Downs in the last twelve months, from validation. South Downs decision record →

Public comments

1comment received
1 objecting

Last counted 4 Sept 2026

Read the comments on the council site ↗

Consultation & key dates

Alt. reference
PP-15146025
Planning Portal ref
PP-15146025
Statutory expiry
22 Sept 2026
Env. assessment
No

Sale prices: Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Freehold boundary: © Crown copyright and database rights 2026, HM Land Registry. Polygons © Crown copyright and database rights 2026 Ordnance Survey 100026316. Conditions of use