Budget retailer Aldi has been granted planning permission to make changes to a former Homebase DIY store in Hove and reopen it as a supermarket.
Aldi can put in new doors and windows and revamp the service area at the back of the building in Old Shoreham Road, Hove.
The changes were approved by Brighton and Hove City Council’s Planning Committee at Hove Town Hall this afternoon (Wednesday 4 June).
But councillors had concerns about the potential effect on traffic leaving the St Joseph’s Industrial Estate which is home to several businesses.
Before Homebase closed for good, queues would build up at the traffic lights during peak times.
A report to the Planning Committee said that the store shared the site with Howdens and Carpetright as well as the other neighbouring businesses.
The report said that Brighton and Hove Buses was worried about the junction capacity at the traffic lights on the A270 Old Shoreham Road at the Nevill Road and Sackville Road crossroads.
The company had asked for improvements to the north and westbound bus stops near the store, including shelters and live information screens.
Councillors were told that the council’s traffic team would monitor the area for any extra congestion at the traffic-light controlled junctions and make changes where needed.
But councillors were also told that Aldi did not need to submit a “change of use” application.
The company was entitled to open and trade from the premises. It had only applied for planning permission to make relatively minor changes to the building.
Planning permission was granted with a number of conditions including restricted delivery times. Lorries can come and go from 6am to 11pm from Monday to Saturday and from 8am to 8pm on Sundays, bank holidays and public holidays.
There were no restrictions on opening hours when the site operated as Homebase.
Aldi’s opening hours will be restricted by planning conditions. The store can trade from 8am to 10pm from Monday to Saturday and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays, bank holidays and public holidays.
Labour councillor Julie Cattell said: “There will come a time in the future when buildings like this will just be listed.
“I hope it’s a long time in the future because they’re fantastic examples of that kind of early 1980s let’s make all commercial buildings look like Victorian primary schools.
“What’s happening here is a huge improvement. But the bar is low. And I welcome the fact it will have a much more attractive feel to it and there’ll be more active frontages which is something we like to see in planning.”
Fellow Labour councillor Paul Nann said that the building was “particularly bleak”.
Conservative councillor Carol Theobald said that the new store would revitalise the area.
Councillor Theobald said: “(Aldi) seems a very popular store. The one in Carlton Terrace, which I’ve visited a few times, has got a very small car park and this will have a lot of good car parking.
“I like the design and I think the glazing is good which will make it more attractive – and, of course, it will create jobs.”
I miss Homebase… So good for gardening needs and Dulux 250 ml tins, colour mixed to order using my 1980s colour samples. The retail range continues to shrink in central Hove apart from food which grows and grows.
“Labour councillor Julie Cattell said: “There will come a time in the future when buildings like this will just be listed”
Dime a dozen. They’ll never get listed
Most people in Brighton & Hove don’t have gardens and can’t decorate home scalper properties, especially the city centre, hence it closing due to lack of custom.
The few remaining boomers who enjoyed wasting time there can’t support a store of that size. They once out competed independent garden centres so they all disappeared. Now they themselves have been outcompeted by Amazon as people simply don’t enjoy walking aimlessly around a garden centre
Perhaps if the generation hadn’t continually objected to them having somewhere to live, stores like this might have remained in business, but that ship has sailed and now a good third of the workforce are stuck in extortionate rented accommodation with no way out of it in their lifetime.
Reap what you sow.