A bowls club can modernise its buildings after it was granted planning permission by councillors.
Rottingdean Bowls Club wants to upgrade its clubhouse, build a storage unit and replace the changing rooms and toilets with a single-storey block.
Councillors were due to make a decision last month about the planning application from the club but agreed to visit the site and neighbours first before giving their verdict.
Just two councillors opposed the scheme when Brighton and Hove City Council’s Planning Committee held a vote yesterday (Wednesday 5 July).
Two neighbours, Gillian Chapman and Gillian Lovett, objected to the application during the Planning Committee meeting at Hove Town Hall.
Gillian Chapman said that her home was next to the 18th-century barn and the scheme would permanently alter the building. It would also block a shared pathway.
She said that the club could build a store in the clubhouse, adding: “This small and simple modification will conserve the barn’s historical facade for the future.
“Additionally, the preservation of the existing pathway ensures that the current uninterrupted access to our houses, essential for maintenance purposes, can continue.”
Brighton and Hove Independent councillor Bridget Fishleigh, who represents Rottingdean and West Saltdean, also addressed the meeting to object to the application.
She said that she supported the bowling club’s need for modern facilities and had offered to help with fundraising once the plans were acceptable to neighbours.
Councillor Fishleigh said that the biggest issue was the decorative pitched roof because neighbours would not oppose a flat roof at the same height as the existing buildings.
She said: “I have been dismayed at the attitude of some of the club’s members. Their needs and desires should not trump the entirely valid concerns of the people who live next door.”
Councillor Fishleigh reminded the committee that Rottingdean Parish Council had objected to this application and asked them to give this objection “weight”.
Dianne Bates spoke on behalf of the bowls club as a management committee member, saying that the club had existed since 1934 and signed a 25-year lease with Brighton and Hove City Council in 2021 leaving it responsible for maintenance.
She said: “Our buildings include a clubhouse in need of refurbishment and a separate wooden changing room block, now nearing the end of its useful life.
“Outside toilets (which) we believe date back to the 1930s no longer meet modern-day standards or expectations. Most importantly, there are no facilities for the disabled.”
Brighton and Hove Independent councillor Mark Earthey, who also represents Rottingdean and West Saltdean, was one of only two Planning Committee members to vote against the application. The other was Labour councillor Liz Loughran.
Councillor Earthey said: “I would be the first to concede the Rottingdean Bowls Club does need a new clubhouse.
“I thought the design is completely excessive. It’s excessively high. It will have a major impact on the incoming light for the houses behind it.”
He was particularly concerned about the effect of the new storeroom on the 18th century barn.
Labour councillor Jacob Allen said that the design was sympathetic, adding: “Having been in a couple of the properties in the mews, I think that the impact isn’t as significant as supporting the amenity that has been there since 1934.”
