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Sustainable settlements in the High Weald

The Countryside Agency is working in partnership with High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) unit to explore the sustainability of settlements within the AONB . This project builds on previous work undertaken by the Agency on the functioning of rural settlements, extending it look at environmental sustainability.

The work takes forward the commitment in the High Weald AONB Management Plan to identify the sustainability attributes of settlements and their connections with the countryside. The purpose of the project is to develop a robust evidence base for the better understanding of rural settlements and to produce practical guidance for local authorities in the AONB to use in the preparation of their Local Development Frameworks.

The work included:

  • A definition of rural sustainability;
  • The development of sustainable settlement criteria and indicators;
  • Case studies examining the sustainability of selected settlements in the AONB;
  • A policy framework for settlement sustainability within the AONB.

Main Findings and Recommendations 
 The study points out that the High Weald presents a sustainability conundrum. Sustainable development in a protected area must include closer and more productive relationships between the communities living in the AONBs and the landscape that surrounds them. However, as it also lies within the most economically dynamic region of England where areas of attractive countryside are experiencing significant pressure for development, property values are very high and where communities are becoming less and less mixed.

The settlements studied do not, overall, reflect the ideas of the sustainable communities agenda in terms of being ‘mixed’ (demographic or housing stock) or the planning policy concept of local service centres where people display relatively localised patterns of travel to work and services. That said there are significant differences between settlements and the study identifies their geography as being an important factor in this respect. For example, smaller settlements in the south and east of the AONB appear to be more functionally sustainable than those in the north and west where ‘commuter villages’ are prevalent. This, the study suggests, is probably because the former are relatively more isolated. The study also found that the connections between the communities and the protected landscape they live in are somewhat tenuous and outweighed by the environmental costs of their lifestyles, particularly those borne out of high car dependence. 

In terms of what planning can do to increase the sustainability of settlements in the High Weald, the study concludes that it cannot transform how communities and settlements in the area ‘work’ and, therefore, its role is limited. Planning should focus on getting the right kinds of development in the villages showing greater functional strengths so as to reinforce those attributes, rather than searching for ‘key settlements or local service centres.This development should include the provision of affordable housing and planning should so set out the case for sustainable communities and support necessary development that reinforces the traditional settlement pattern and the production and use of local products. Planning could also contribute to fostering stronger links between people and the environment through allowing exceptional development that facilitates highly sustainable lifestyles and livelihoods centred on land-based activities.