Ten new “affordable” homes could be built on the site of an old pub after a planning application was submitted by Brighton and Hove City Council.
The council’s Planning Committee will decide whether the terrace of five houses and a block of five flats can go up on the old Toby Inn site, at 104 Cowley Drive, in Woodingdean.
The pub closed 20 years ago and, according to the council’s planning application, the building has no heritage or architectural value.
While it would be possible to retrofit the building, the option was described as “not optimal”. Instead, the two new buildings – two and three storeys high – would make better use of the site.
The council has instructed BakerBrown, the practice run by Brighton University academic Duncan Baker-Brown, the architect behind the Waste House – a house built entirely from recycled rubbish.
The application for the Toby Inn site said: “The design is for a new housing project that supports Brighton and Hove City Council’s strategic objective to increase the supply of high-quality affordable homes across the city.
“This site has been identified as having the potential to deliver new family houses for people on the council’s housing register.”
The plans include six parking spaces on the site and two more designated spaces on the street as well as eight cycle parking spaces. The council owns 16 nearby garages for rent. Four of the flats would be designated car-free.
The council has also recently submitted a planning application to the South Downs National Park Authority to four houses on a greenfield site also in Cowley Drive.
To view the application for the Toby Inn site or to comment on it, click here and search for BH2025/02480 on the council website.
The application is due to be decided by the end of next month.
