Housing group seeks to amend plans for Hove flats

The new homes in School Road in Hove

Councillors are being asked to back changes to the mix of “affordable” housing at a site in Hove where work is nearly finished.

Hyde Housing wants more of the homes at the Westerman Complex, in School Road, to be one-bed lower-cost rented flats – and fewer to be for shared ownership.

The housing association also wants to include a three-bedroom low-rent home as part of the scheme.

A planning application submitted to Brighton and Hove City Council by Hyde seeks to double the number of one-bed flats from seven to fourteen.

Hyde still intends to let ten two-bedroom properties for a “social” rent – with a rent level discounted more heavily from the market rate than a rent classed as “affordable”.

Council officials are urging the Planning Committee to back the proposal when they meet next Wednesday (10 August).

The project includes 104 homes – a mix of flats and houses – on the site of the old Westows soft play centre and Cliffords car parts premkises.

Building work is almost complete, four years after the project was granted planning permission in 2018.

All the homes in the scheme are classed as “affordable”, with 16 homes to be available for shared ownership.

Affordable rents are defined as no more than the local housing allowance or 80 per cent of the local market rate for a comparable property.

The council’s Planning Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 2pm on Wednesday 10 August. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.