Cliff Gardens Project

Cliff Gardens Project

The aim: To turn a neglected and mis-used site into an attractive, biodiverse, community garden. This will be educational and awareness–raising, demonstrating and addressing the effects of climate change on the environment. It will use individual plots to show how plants adapt to their environment, enhance biodiversity by encouraging wildlife. Its use will be as an outdoor classroom and educational site to demonstrate these features to students and the public.

Town Council Partnership and Permission: At its meeting on 26th January 2022, Seaford Town Council finalised and entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Seaford Community Partnership, at the same meeting Seaford Community Partnership was granted permission by the Town Council (as land owner) for the Cliff Gardens project. The minutes of this meeting can be found here.

Planning Permission: Plans for the garden were submitted  by Seaford Community Partnership to Lewes District Council in December 2022. As is customary, Lewes District Council put a notice on local posts and informed residents in the area of the development. Plans were available at Lewes District Council offices for inspection and online on their Planning Portal click here to view.

On 11 October 2023 at a Lewes District Council planning meeting, planners stated that having considered the merits of the case and considered letters of support (31) and objection (22), they were minded to approve the Cliff Gardens Project application.

Stopping Up Order: In order to facilitate the project, a Stopping Up Order under s.249 of the Highways Act is required.

When the application for the Stopping Up Order was submitted, objections were received from members of the public which resulted in a Public Inquiry which took place in November 2024, the notice can be found here.

The conclusion of the Public Inquiry has resulted in the Stopping Up Order being granted:

“The Secretary of State hereby gives notice of an Order made under Section 249 of the Town and Country Planning act 1990:

TO EXTINGUISH VEHICULAR RIGHTS ALONG A LENGTH OF CLIFF GARDENS, SEAFORD.

THE ORDER WILL COME INTO FORCE ON 24 JANUARY 2025.”