A private school is hoping to create a boarding house for 27 pupils by knocking through three former family homes.
Brighton College, which has been carrying out major building works at its Kemp Town campus for the past decade, has permission to use the three adjoining houses in Walpole Road as student accommodation, to house 16 students.
But it now wants to knock through interjoining doors and extend the loft to create a boarding house for 27 pupils.
It has already demolished the garden walls to create a single garden at the back.
Its application to create the boarding house was rejected by Brighton and Hove City Council in July last year, because it would be an “unacceptable intensification in the use of the site”.
The college is now hoping to have the decision overturned on appeal.
In its statement of appeal, the college’s planning agent Lichfields says: “The appeal site is in an urban neighbourhood which is predominantly characterised by a mix of residential dwelling types of different sizes and tenures, including boarding school accommodation.
“The character is further dominated by Brighton College itself with on and off-site boarding accommodation, such as the boarding house at 20 Walpole Road at the end of Walpole Road.
“The neighbourhood has multiple educational facilities and the local community therefore includes families and boarding school pupils.
“In this context, the proposal to increase the number of pupils occupying the appeal site is not considered to detrimentally unbalance the character of the area or character of Walpole Road.”
It said that the renovations would include “acoustic upgrading” and the boarding house would be used by full boarders who spend most of their weekends doing organised activities on the main campus.
It added: “The proposal reduces the need for Brighton College to add incremental properties as boarding stock through more sustainably increasing the capacity in the existing boarding houses.”
The statement also raised concerns that the council had not consulted Brighton College – a “key stakeholder who represents a significant majority of the area” – when drawing up its draft College Conservation Area Character Statement, which planning officers referenced when refusing the plans.
More than 80 comments have been submitted to the appeal by third parties – usually residents – on the planning portal.
One said: “I have lived here over a decade and have never known a time when the college is not undertaking a building scheme and pushing the boundaries of its footprint within this neighbourhood.
“I understand the school has increased its architectural footprint by 40,000 square meters on its own land, now it’s building and overextending itself in the surrounding area, taking away opportunities for people and families to live here.
“Please do not let the school increase the number of students as a pure profit scheme. Any encouragement of this will give them a green light to buy up more homes and convert them into more boarding houses.
“There is already a well known housing shortage for families in the Brighton area.
“The school arrogantly pursues a policy of continuous building which not only affects the community aspect of this conservation area, but it is overwhelming the space with its new buildings and we experience a twice daily rush hour already on our road during term time as well as the constant noise of construction all year round.”
Another said: “Brighton College is a private business, does not function as a community school and, as such, offers nothing to the local community.
“It is NOT a facility for local children or residents; we are NOT allowed to use it.
“Brighton and Hove has serious housing problems and private dwellings should not be used as boarding facilities for private institutions.”
Another said: “I believe that Brighton College are increasing their influence and taking over and changing the character of a beautiful, residential community.”
And another said: “It is not acceptable that residential properties are being purchased by the school in order to house students, thereby reducing the number of homes available for families/groups. Increasingly, it feels like the area is a service for the school rather than an integral part of the Brighton community.”
Other commenters said that work to knock through the houses had commenced – but this was denied in the college’s planning statement, which said enforcement officers had confirmed that walls had only been knocked down according to the approved plans for the individual houses.
Other commenters disputed the veracity of sworn statements saying that 8 Walpole Road had been used as a boarding house for more than ten years, saying it had instead only been occupied by college staff.
The appeal is currently under consideration.
Brighton College is entrenched in the area anyway. The college is correct in that there already exists boarding school accomodation (apart from their own), which is Hamilton Lodge, a school for deaf children in Walpole Road. I don’t know what Brighton College do for the community, however their reputation speaks volumes, and apparently has a national reputation. I would hope the area would benefit from that, plus also increased profit for local businesses. Hopefully, they would they employ staff from the community to help run and maintain the boarding house. I’ve always thought that area to be very busy anyway, with the hospital, St Georges Road and Freshfield Road. Can there be room for Brighton College to have this and co-exist with the community without making existing residents spectators in their own neighbourhood, plus can the college do things for the community that would endear them rather than alienate them? To me, Brighton College is a wonderful visual distraction on the boring bus ride along Eastern Road to the hospital.
Being “entrenched”, a “good neighbour”, doing stuff for the “community” and having a “national reputation” simply does not absolve them from having to follow planning law and local policies.
and indeed they are ” following planning law and local policies” all ready.
Hamilton Lodge is to close fairly soon according to some local sources.
Hmm, vat on school fees destroying private education. Doesn’t look like it.
I never brought that argument either, BB. And in this case, their business does very well here.
I live in the area of Kemp Town.
The school continues to take over kemp town with no regard for the residents around. A perfect example of this. Is if you walk down to Kemptown high street during lunch time or after school. Where many students are rudely clogging up the pavements having conversations, with no regard for any other person around. Trampling through coop and the local shops in Kemptown in packs of students who have little to no regard for anyone else around them, who isn’t a Brighton college student. The students are rude, obnoxious and never move out the way of other people or even consider sharing the pavements with anyone but themselves. You can pay as much money as you like for a good, high quality education but you can’t teach respect or manners if money does the talking most of the time! I personally have contacted the college on several occasions about the total disregard the students of Brighton college have for residents and businesses around Kemptown. Yet I never get a response. It just falls on death ears. But then again, if the headteacher and staff play ignorance to the issues being raised by the local people. Then that sends out a strong message to the students of the college to do the same thing.
Not only this, but the parking and traffic caused during drop off and pick up time at the college is ridiculous. The parents of these students park badly, block access and have little to no regard for anyone else who may be using the area at the time. What blows my mind even more, is this road is the main route to get people to hospital especially in an emergency ambulance with all the lights and sirens on. Yet the school, parents and students don’t seem to care….
To hear they want to make more boarding houses within the local area surrounding the college, to cater for there boarders is just absurd. There is far too many families who were either born here in Brighton or have lived here a long time, that need family homes desperately. Yet, the council would rather give these great family homes away to a private school who have little to nothing to contribute to the area or to give back to the area for asking for these boarding houses that they want these boarders to live. Apart from cause more disruption, chaos and entitlement to the poor local people of Kemptown!
I really hope BHCC do the right thing and reject their appeal. This school may have money and entitlement coming in, in heaps. But please BHCC think about the impact, chaos and disruption this is and continues to cause on the local residents of Kemptown as well as the impact on the local already busy roads and major trauma hospital just a stones throw away. These things are much more important than the school expanding to suit there agenda and their agenda only.
You sound frustrated, however, none of that is grounds for objection.
You make a reasonable point about the route to hospital, there’s one section of road that is a bit narrow leading up to the zebra that can be a bit fiddly to progress on blues. You make a good argument for a red route there.
We have issues with some of the children that go to a local school near us. So maybe it’s an endemic children thing, where some of them turn into monsters on the way home. We’ve had 3 lads peeing against someone’s fence opposite, bear in mind they’ve just left school. Even coming back the next day to laugh. Yes, Benjamin, I did report it to the school at the time. I’ve been asked if I want to look at the private parts of someone’s friend. Yes, did report this to the police but the child denied it. They also take over the pavements and shops. However, I’m assured by a delivery driver in his 50’s, that they will grow out of it, because when he was younger, he was one of the kids as well. So it’s not just the children of private schools that play rough shod over residents.
I think you should ask the former residents of walpole road how they feel about this
as i understand a lot of “no fault” evictions happened precisely when the college started buying them
all up.
Another reason why it is important to close off section 31 from abuse.
Building a property portfolio funded by tax inequality is surely a charitable cause. Pay tax on school fees, invest in the future of all our children not just the spawn of rich ones, then put that tax into state schools and then reaply for planning permission.
A socially divisive school . It’s only for the elite and adding to our class ridden society