Brighton College has asked for permission to turn eight homes in a single street into boarding houses.
The two houses and six flats in Walpole Road are a stone’s throw from the public school’s grounds, where a substantial rebuilding programme continues.
The school says pupil numbers are increasing and so it needs to expand.
The number of bedrooms in each house will be increased from four to eight, and the flats will be converted into seven bedrooms, a common room and tutor’s flat.
An application written by Lichfields planning consultancy says: “Over the last half century, applications for school places have trebled and the
school roll has doubled.
“In 2020, The Sunday Times named Brighton College the ‘Independent Secondary School of the Decade’ and as a result, it is expected that the number of pupils at the college will continue to increase.
“The college has been delivering improvements to the college against a masterplan in recent years, which has included new boarding accommodation. However, given the expansion of the college in recent years, there is a need for additional boarding accommodation to meet demand.”
It adds: “The development will be used predominantly to house pupils in school term time but will also be used as part of Brighton College’s Holiday Club initiative throughout the rest of the year.
“In this way, the property will be used as a school boarding house full time.”
No external changes are being made to the buildings, and the application says they are close enough to the college that pupils would be expected to walk to school.
Meanwhile, the college’s plans for a new 400 seat theatre – the “grand finale” of the masterplan are being decided by councillors on the planning committee this afternoon.
