A developer is making a second bid for permission to rent its student rooms to young professionals.
CKC Properties Ltd has struggled to let the two blocks of purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) at Holden Court, 35 Hollingdean Road, Brighton.
Last October, it applied to Brighton and Hove City Council to relax a condition on the original 2021 planning permission that the rooms could only be let to students, saying it was not viable – but this was refused.
Planning officials turned it down due to the impact on housing mix and a lack of evidence to show why student housing alone was not viable.
CKC has now appealed to the Planning Inspectorate to overturn the decision.
The appeal statement, written by planning consultancy Third Revolution Projects, says the scheme has been partly occupied during term time.
It says: “However, because of shifting market conditions in Brighton, it is no longer feasible to operate the scheme viably as PBSA [purpose built student accommodation], due to a lack in demand.
“The scheme has low occupancy rates and has remained largely vacant for the past two term periods.
“Occupancy has been 70 per cent for 2025/26, resulting in a significant financial loss.
“In effect, the scheme as it currently stands is not serving to benefit the city’s housing demand, and units which would otherwise serve to provide high-quality accommodation are being (left) vacant.
“In order to rectify this, the appellant seeks to utilise those vacant units to provide housing options for non-students, as well as for students.”
The statement adds: “The entire scheme would remain open and available to students and so if demand for PBSA increases in the future, the entire scheme could be occupied by students.
“As such, the LDC (Lawful Development Certificate) would not actually change the mix of housing provided in the city, it simply introduces flexibility that will enable currently vacant units to be let, to the benefit the non-student population.”
Holden Court has 135 studio bedrooms with communal facilities. It has been built on a site earmarked by the council for student housing before its original application was submitted.
Both CKC Properties and the original applicant SE Properties share a company director – Geoffrey Thomas, 66.
The appeal documents are available to view by searching for BH2025/02490 on the council website.
Sounds like the ideal council purchase for a new social housing project. It could be for working single people, but a step up from a hostel.
Odd that this developer can’t fill his PBSA yet the University of Sussex is planning to build three
more massive student tower blocks by Moulsecoomb Place…