Councillors are due to debate plans for a huge new housing estate in Hove this morning (Monday 21 March).
They are holding a special meeting of the council’s Planning Committee to discuss a planning application for outline planning permission to build 880 homes in Toads Hole Valley.
They have also been told that a date has been set – in June – for a public hearing after the developer appealed because its planning application had not been decided in good time.
The applicant – a consortium consisting of Toads Hole Valley Limited, Pecla Investments and Robert Mark Simon – submitted its planning application to Brighton and Hove City Council in November 2018.
But the council said that it did not have all the information that it needed to decide whether planning permission could be granted.
The council said: “The government company responsible for motorways and major A roads, National Highways, has not yet been able to issue its opinion on the impact the development would have on local roads.
“This has made it impossible for us to decide to grant or refuse the application.”
Earlier this year, the developer stepped up the pressure on the council – and the site’s neighbours – with two moves.
As well as the legal appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, the developer also submitted a duplicate application for outline planning permission to build 880 homes to Brighton and Hove City Council.
The plans include a school, which is no longer expected to form part of the final scheme, with more homes likely to be added instead to the 12 acres that had been set aside.
Today, the council’s Planning Committee is due to decide whether it would have granted planning permission if the developer had not submitted its appeal.
Officials said that they could not support the scheme without a proper road safety assessment.
But if councillors back the plans as they stand, it could mean that the appeal is withdrawn and more detailed plans can be drawn up for the scheme.
If councillors reject the plans, their reasons would be expected to become part of the council’s formal objections when the appeal hearing takes place.
The site sits on a triangular slope between King George VI Avenue, known locally as Snakey Hill, and the A27 Brighton bypass. Downland Drive, in the west, overlooks the site.
If the planning committee is unable to make a decision due to the absence of the traffic analysis then how can the Government planning inspector make an informed decision if that analysis is still unavailable?
As we face ecological disaster and need to achieve a re-wilding of 50% of our planet, how can you think of building another huge estate on a green site? It’s insane.