Plans for a new climbing wall have been approved – but with a ban on amplified music being audible outside after neighbours said they were worried about noise and vibrations.
The developer of the new Edward Street Quarter in Brighton asked for permission to change the use of one of the commercial units on the ground floor and lower floor.
Today (Wednesday), members of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Planning Committee unanimously to approve the plans.
But eight of the ten-strong committee voted to add a condition forbidding “amplified music” being played loud enough it can be heard outside the building.
Labour councillor Paul Nann, who alongside councillor Sam Parrott voted against restricting amplified music, said he is familiar with the noise generated by climbers.
In response to committee chair councillor Alison Thomson’s comment that climbing is a quiet sport, Councillor Nann said: “It’s not. My daughter is a climber and there’s a lot of hooting and hollering.
“That can be controlled, but I recall when they were going to climbing competitions the first question was ‘where is the competition?’ The second was ‘who’s DJing?’”
Green councillor Sue Shanks said her son goes bouldering and she used to climb, so she is familiar with the noise.
Councillor Shanks said: “This is the sort of thing that goes through people’s floors. It’s part of vibration.”
Green councillor Kerry Pickett said treadmills were more of a problem when it came to vibrations.
Labour councillor Tobias Sheard said the site is on major bus routes and is just a block from St James’s Street which is at the heart of the city’s night-time economy, generating noise.
Councillor Sheard: “Trying to limit the noise of a gym when you’ve got buses and heavy traffic going past all the time and people walking around there as well I think is trying to tackle the lesser of two evils.
“I think it’s a really good use of the site.”
Edward Street Quarter Limited said in its application that the need for a change of use reflected a shift in the market since the covid-19 pandemic.
The scheme, on the former Amex House “wedding cake” site, was granted planning permission in July 2018. It included 168 flats as well as offices, shops and cafés.
Octopus Energy occupies 80 per cent of the office space, with NatWest and Knights taking up a further 10 per cent.
But after two years of marketing, no office clients have come forward to make use of the remaining commercial space.
Conservative councillor Carol Theobald said: “I think it’s good use of the space that’s been redundant and it’s vacant.
“I would presume some of those office workers would use it before they go into work in the morning, or in the evening, or even at lunchtime.
Labour councillor Julie Cattell, who like Councillor Theobald was on the Planning Committee when the original application went through in 2018, said there was a lot of evidence of the site being marketed to no avail.
Councillor Cattell said: “There was a big thing about keeping the ground floors active.
“One of the first things that happened when I got elected this time was I was invited to go and look at this.
“It was so sad, because I’m taking about 2023 and most of the ground floors on that block were vacant.”
