A student house developer wants to turn a former three-bedroom family home into an eight-bed HMO.
The semi-detached house in Auckland Drive is already being let out by Rivers Birtwell to four students, for which it got retrospective planning permission earlier this year.
The developer submitted evidence it had been used that way since 2008, before planning restrictions on shared houses were introduced by Brighton and Hove City Council in 2013.
It also used permitted development rules to build a rear extension.
Now, it is seeking permission to put in a roof extension and double the number of students living there.
Two extra bedrooms would be put into the roof extension, along with a small bathroom, another bedroom and bathroom would go in the rear extension and the first floor rearranged to squeeze in another bedroom there too.
The application, written by agent Lewis and Co, says: “The two additional single occupancy bedrooms both meet national minimum space standards of at least 7.5 sq m.
“The use of 15 Auckland Drive as an HMO [house of multiple occupation] is already established through but would comprise only 9.09% of all dwellings within a 50m radius around the site. The council’s density test is therefore met as the threshold of 10% is not exceeded.
“Additional soundproofing is proposed to the party wall with the adjoining neighbour … Sound deadening underlay is also proposed for the staircase as well as soft closers to all external and internal doors to reduce the likelihood of incidental noise impacts from normal residential activity.”
From the comments in the planning portal, it seems that one of the Ward Councillors has also objected to this development.
Doesn’t mean anything as no 54 auckland drive went through and straight away started building works, our council are a joke and totally useless and worthless people to have
Just because an application doesn’t go your way, doesn’t make that a fair comment, does it?
And this at the same time as other student flats are in surplus the owner wanted to let them to others, non students ??? must be too many somewhere. let the houses be homes and reign in the building of student flats
This is nothing but greed in the part of the developer. They should never have been granted retrospective planning the last time and house reverted back to a family home. There are too many houses being lost to student lets, while purpose built accommodation is being left empty. The impact of all these on housing is huge, aswell as the impact of families being pushed out resulting in loss of community and if this continues to be allowed, loss of a school. Unfortunately the planning department have already shown us in the last couple of months, that they genuinely do not care, as they agreed to another extension to an HMO in the same road
Unfortunately, they aren’t allowed to care in that sense. It has to be purely a pragmatic analysis of the proposal in front of them, Ruth. They’ve certainly been erring on the side of caution, though, particularly after the Gasworks, in my opinion. If there’s another HMO coming in, that’s potentially a material consideration for objection; you should get that in!
This is utterly disgusting. There’s need to double the size of this house. There’s plenty of student accommodation in Brighton that can be used. This is nothing more than profit for the developer and more inconvenience and stress for residents
Us residents on Auckland drive DO NOT want this whatsoever. What’s needed is more FAMILY homes, not yet more student accommodation.
Student accommodation is decreasing, totally out of character for the building.
If the developer had done their homework they would stick with the income they have, greedy and ill informed.
So wrong in so many ways. My dad’s lives in the adjoining property, alone. It’s already a 5 bed which keeps him up all night with the constant comings and goings of the tenants and fire doors. There’s no parking in Auckland drive as it is. This is wrong in all levels my poor dad!!!!!
I was reading some of the objections. Some really strong ones utilising planning policy.
When we read that the student flats in hollingdean road are not being occupied, I think it’s a bit of a Micky take that someone wants to destroy a family home to ram as many students as they physically can into a completely innoproprate building in the suburbs. Absolute greed
We dont need more student accommodation in bevendean there noisy rude and have no respect for other people’s privacy they party all night Bevendean is a quiet area these student only bring misery