Plans to add an additional holiday lodge at a glamping site near Bewl Water have been refused following a planning appeal, with a government-appointed inspector siding with the local authority’s earlier decision.
In a decision notice published on Monday, January 26, a planning inspector dismissed an appeal relating to Downash Wood Treehouses, a holiday letting business located on Tinkers Lane near Ticehurst. The appeal followed Rother District Council’s refusal of an application to add a single-storey holiday lodge to the existing site.
The business currently operates six holiday cabins on the land, including two elevated treehouses. The proposed new lodge was described in the application as timber-clad and similar in appearance to a shepherd’s hut. While council planning officers had recommended the scheme for approval, Rother District Council’s planning committee voted to refuse permission in June 2025.
At that time, councillors concluded the proposal would amount to an “overdevelopment” of the site, citing concerns that it would cause “harm to the countryside,” represent a “poor design,” and have an “adverse impact” on the High Weald National Landscape (HWNL).
According to The Argus, the applicants subsequently appealed the decision and submitted a separate application seeking to recover costs from both Rother District Council and Ticehurst Parish Council, arguing that the authorities had acted unreasonably.
In assessing the appeal, the planning inspector agreed with the council’s concerns, focusing particularly on the siting of the proposed lodge. The inspector noted that the location would make the structure visible from a walking and cycling route around Bewl Water, an issue they considered significant in landscape terms.
In the decision notice, the inspector described the proposal as “an embodiment … of the erosion of rurality and tranquillity through new camping/glamping accommodation and activity.”
While acknowledging the existence of the established business and the potential benefits associated with an additional unit, the inspector concluded that the impact would still be “harmful.” They noted that the existing lodges are “far further from the water, and do not intrude upon the undeveloped nature of the land around the footpath to the same degree as the appeal scheme would.”
On balance, the inspector found that the harm to the High Weald National Landscape outweighed the benefits of the development.
The separate application for costs was also dismissed. The inspector considered arguments relating to objections raised by Ticehurst Parish Council, including claims that the parish council objected before formally discussing the proposal.
However, the inspector stated that even if this had occurred, it had no bearing on the district council’s decision. “[Rother District Council] refused the application, having found conflict with adopted policies, and it is not evident that the views of the parish [council] were determinative in that,” the inspector said.
Further arguments that the district council had misunderstood aspects of the proposal were also rejected, with the inspector concluding that issues raised during the committee meeting had been clarified and did not amount to unreasonable behaviour.
For professionals in the outdoor hospitality and glamping sector, the decision highlights the continued scrutiny applied to incremental expansion within protected landscapes. Even modest additions can face refusal where visibility, landscape character, and cumulative impact are judged to conflict with local and national planning policy.
Operators considering expansion in sensitive locations may benefit from early landscape assessments, careful siting strategies, and pre-application engagement with planning authorities to better understand constraints before submitting proposals.
Further details on the application can be found under reference RR/2025/36/P on the Rother District Council website.