A developer wants to build 72 houses in a farmyard on the edge of Saltdean and has applied for planning permission to Brighton and Hove City Council.
Gold (Saltdean) Ltd, owned by property developer Bradley Gold, from Kent, has submitted a scheme that includes 29 affordable homes at Coombe Farm.
If planning permission is granted, old farm buildings at the end of Westfield Avenue North would be demolished on eight acres next to the Downs.
The farm’s owners – David and Mike Carr – would still have a livery yard and would continue to farm about 350 cattle at Saltdean and Ovingdean where they have almost a thousand acres.
They were granted planning permission for a similar scheme three years ago, having given up dairy farming in 2011 as milk prices became economically unviable.
The latest plans include 108 car parking space, electric car charging points and four homes that would be fully “wheelchair-accessible”.
The homes would be finished with a mix of brick, timber, clay tiles and slate.
A “planning statement” submitted by the Gold (Saltdean) said: “The proposal provides a combination of barn-style terraces including single-storey wheelchair-accessible houses, detached and semi-detached houses.
“The dwelling mix comprises four one-bedroom, 16 two-bedroom, 29 three-bedroom and 23 four-bedroom houses, of which 40 per cent will be affordable.”
The planning statement said that the site was allocated by the council for housing when it carried out its “urban fringe assessment” in 2014.
It added: “Outline planning permission was granted for 60 houses on a broadly similar site.
“Taking this outline permission as the basis for the scheme, the design team have undertaken a comprehensive review of the approved layout in order to develop and enhance the design.”
Gold organised an exhibition at St Martin’s Church Hall, in Saltdean, last November which attracted more than 200 people and 38 comments.
A “statement of community involvement” submitted by Gold (Saltdean) said: “Some residents were unhappy about the site being developed in any way at all and felt very strongly about the loss of open countryside.
“However, many of those who attended the exhibition made positive comments about the design of the scheme.
