Tech firm appeals after planners turn down ‘smart hubs’

A company has lodged appeals after plans to site three “smart hubs” in Brighton were refused planning permission.

Urban Innovation Company (UIC) applied to put its “Pulse Smart Hubs” in West Street, Western Road and Jubilee Street but Brighton and Hove City Council turned down the plans.

The decisions were made in July by planning officials under delegated powers – and the council received the technology company’s appeals on Friday 27 September.

The planning application said that the hubs were “free-standing structures” with an interactive tablet and large digital display screens on each side.

The touch-screens provide access to a built-in defibrillator, an emergency safety button, 999 button, nasal naloxone opioid emergency treatment, free wifi and phone calls, wireless mobile phone charging and information.

All three sites are in streets with high footfall but they are also conservation areas.

One, proposed for the pavement outside 65-75 West Street, in the Old Town Conservation Area, was described as having a “red gloss finish” and “two large illuminated digital screens”.

Planners said that these would cause “adverse harm” to an area where there were already several illuminated adverts and a nearby communication hub.

Another hub, proposed for the pavement at 17 Jubilee Street, would cause similar harm in the North Laine Conservation area, planners said.

The third, for the pavement outside 127 Western Road, Brighton, was described as potentially harming the Montpelier and Clifton and Regency Square conservation areas.

The proposed hubs would have affected pedestrians, wheelchair users and cyclists at all three sites, contrary to council policy and the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP), planners said.

UIC said in its appeal that there were no heritage issues other than the existence of the conservation areas – and telephone boxes were previously approved for all sites on appeal but not installed.

The company also said that the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan was a strategy, not a planning policy document, and should not be used when making planning decisions.

It said: “The three appeal proposals will deliver very significant free public benefits, to which very substantial weight must be afforded when framed in the need to plan for greater investment in world-class digital infrastructure and seen as critical to the continued social, economic and environmental success of this country.

“This is recognised in national, regional and local government policies and strategies.

“At the same time, it has been demonstrated that none of the three appeal proposals will cause harm to the character of their respective areas or to highway (or) public safety or any other harm.”