Discount supermarket chain Aldi has withdrawn its planning application to build a store in Hove next to the A27 Brighton bypass.
The company emailed Brighton and Hove City Council yesterday (Wednesday 26 January) to withdraw its application after officials advised councillors not to grant planning permission for the scheme.
Aldi wanted to demolish the remaining buildings at Court Farm House, Hove, at the top of King George VI Avenue, known locally as Snakey Hill, and build a new store there.
It planned to have parking for 120 cars and floorspace totalling 1,895 square metres – similar to the Lidl at the Goldstone Retail Park, in Old Shoreham Road, Hove.
The company paid £5.5 million for the two-and-a-half-acre site in 2020, intending to build a fourth Brighton and Hove store there.
Aldi already has shops in London Road and Lewes Road, in Brighton, and Carlton Terrace, in Portslade.
The Snakey Hill scheme was due to be considered by the council’s Planning Committee at Hove Town Hall next Wednesday (2 February). It overlooks Toads Hole Valley where plans for 880 homes are also due to be decided soon.
But a report to councillors recommended refusing permission because the land is earmarked for “mixed use” – including housing – in the City Plan, the planning blueprint for the area.
A report to councillors said that Aldi’s “transport assessment is not robust” and failed “to demonstrate that the proposal would have an acceptable impact on the road network and that future users would not be heavily reliant on the use of private cars”.
The report also said: “The proposal fails to provide adequate walking and cycling linkages to surrounding areas and would compromise the successful delivery of the strategic infrastructure necessary to enable sustainable delivery of the Court Farm and Toad’s Hole Valley sites.
“The proposal fails to enhance public transport accessibility. Insufficient information has been provided to adequately demonstrate that the proposal would not significantly compromise highway safety.
“The proposal does not represent good-quality design. The proposals do not successfully integrate with the verdant landscape character of the wider locality or that proposed for the adjacent Toad’s Hole Valley site.
“The proposal has failed to demonstrate that it would adequately preserve or enhance the biodiversity of the site and not have a harmful impact on hazel dormice and reptiles in particular.”
And the report said: “The proposals fail to adequately incorporate appropriate blue / green infrastructure such as a nature-based sustainable drainage system (SuDS) and have not demonstrated that ground water sources would be adequately protected from pollutants.”
Aldi’s plans attracted objections from dozens of neighbours as well as ward councillors Vanessa Brown and Samer Bagaeen, the Goldstone Valley Residents’ Association, Hove Civic Society, the Regency Society, Cycling UK and Brighton and Hove Friends of the Earth.
Aldi still need one in Hove.
How about Hove Town Hall as the Green/Labour alliance aren’t using it.
This is welcome news. The site should be integral with Toad’s Hole Valley. The Old Shoreham Road is horrible enough with all those sheds along it; we do not need another ine to greet those arriving in Hove with a view of the sea ahead.
Shame, lots of noise about extra traffic, but most people out of Westdene that drive to Portslade go past the roundabout anyway. Just longer more polluting journey. ALDI, please keep trying we need a supermarket near by, especially if the Toad’s Hall Valley development goes ahead, which based on traffic objections shouldn’t be aloud for the same reasons.