Plans to turn a family home into a shared house in Brighton have been rejected by councillors.
They feared that neighbours would suffer “loss of amenity” because of potential noise and nuisance.
The owner Rivers Birtwell wanted planning permission to turn the three-bedroom family home in Brentwood Crescent, Hollingdean, into a six-bedroom house in multiple occupation (HMO).
Rivers Birtwell director Oliver Dorman said that the company intended to appeal.
Brighton and Hove City Council planning officials had recommended that councillors should approve the scheme but they voted four to one against it this afternoon (Wednesday 7 August).
Labour councillor Tracey Hill, who chairs the council’s Planning Committee, left the meeting as she was one of the objectors to the scheme, as did her two fellow councillors for Hollingdean and Stanmer ward.
A former chair of the committee, Conservative councillor Carol Theobald, took over for the duration of the debate.
One of the scheme’s neighbours, Sandra Banks, addressed the Planning Committee at Hove Town Hall.
She asked that conditions be attached if the scheme was approved such as limiting the house to six occupants, limiting the right to build an extension, preventing parking on a shared driveway and for bins to be stored at the back.
Labour councillor Daniel Yates asked about the proposed planning conditions and was told by officials that would not be needed. Any extension would require a fresh planning application.
Councillor Yates was the only committee member to support the plans. He said: “Clearly there are a number of issues and concerns raised by the objectors to this because of the number of representations made.”
But he said that he found it hard to see grounds to disagree with the official recommendation.
Green councillor Martin Osborne, who represents Hollingdean and Stanmer ward, also spoke on behalf of neighbours.
He said: “This has always been a quiet area of families and retired people. Some of the residents who live there built their houses 50 years ago.
“The house was meant to be a three-bedroom family home. Six people is an over-development.”
Are you going to give a story on every planning application in Brighton? You must be desperate for a news story
I objected in the strongest terms to this application. These homes were built by the residents for themselves and their families to live in. Many of the original self-builders still live here as retired people. We do not want the character and amenity of the area we created destroyed by a commercial developer.
I moved to this quiet street to get away from the noise and disruption of HMO life in central Brighton. I chose this area for its amenity, quiet and stable family character. I do not want this overdevelopment and incompatible student lifestyles in my street.
I objected in the strongest terms to this application. This area was developed as self build homes, built by the owners for themselves and their families to live in. Many of us are now retired and do not want the area we created to lose its amenity and quiet character. This development is of a commercial nature and it is totally out of keeping with the aims of the original planning consent.