Planners gave permission for an eight-storey block of flats to be built in Hove at a meeting this afternoon (Wednesday 29 October).
The scheme involves the demolition of the Hyde Housing office in Davigdor Road, Hove.
In its place the housing association plans to put up a building which ranges from four to eight storeys high, with 700 square metres of office space at ground floor level.
It will also include 68 flats and contribute more than £300,000 in planning gain contributions – also known as section 106 payments.
Forty per cent of the flats will be “affordable” housing – and four of those will be for rent.
Brighton and Hove City Council Planning Committee voted unanimously in favour of the scheme when members met at Hove Town Hall today.
It attracted opposition from ward councillor Ruth Buckley, who does not sit on the planning Committee, and more than 30 other objectors.
Councillor Buckley objected to it because of the size and appearance of the proposed scheme.
She was concerned that neighbours would suffer from overshadowing and loss of privacy. And she added: “The road infrastructure in the area cannot support a building of this size.”
She also had reservations about the effect of creating more homes close to bulging local schools.
Councillor Lynda Hyde was concerned about a lack of parking for the people who would work in the ground-floor officers.
Although she added: “This is a windfall site. If we’re going to protect our urban fringe, we need to build on our brownfield sites.”
A report to the Planning Committee concluded: “The proposed development is of a suitable scale and design that would make a more efficient and effective use of the site without harm to the surrounding townscape.
“The development would provide a suitable mix of additional housing, including affordable housing, without the loss of employment floorspace and without significant harm to the amenities of adjacent occupiers.
Planning Committee chairman Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty said: “This is an excellent scheme. It’s an intelligent response to what would otherwise be a challenging space.”
Are Hyde Housing going to plough the profits back into Social Housing ? To provide 4 out of a total of 65 seems to me to be exactly the opposite of their remit.