A student housing developer wants to convert a two bedroom home in Bevendean into a six bedroom shared house.
Rivers Birtwell, which has converted dozens of family homes in Brighton into student houses, has submitted a planning application for 55 Auckland Drive.
It includes a single-storey rear extension and a cycle and bin store in front of the semi-detached house.
The application states that the increased occupancy would be minor, rising from an estimated familial group of four to six.
However, it does acknowledge there may be some difference in behaviour.
The house would be soundproofed, which the application says would reduce noise transference by 56 decibels to the wall neighbouring 57 Auckland Drive.
Brighton and Hove City Council has a policy to deny applications where the percentage of existing licenced houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) within a 50 mile radius of the proposed site exceeds 10 percent.
According to the application, the plans comply because the immediate HMO density is 8.3 per cent.
It also complies with a ban the council wants to bring in preventing the creation of a continuous frontage of three HMOs, as 55 Auckland Road would not be situated next to existing shared houses.
Rivers Birtwell’s website says: “We are a proud university town and we want the benefits of a healthy mixed community. The universities are our second biggest employer and the young population drives our local economy and makes Brighton the diverse, tolerant, artistic, fun place that it is.”
The application can be found on the council’s planning portal by searching for reference number BH2022/01630.
