Shops, commercial premises, a school site and farmland look likely to be put up for sale by Brighton and Hove City Council.
The council’s cabinet is being asked to approve selling Hove Park School’s Valley Campus, in Hangleton Way, 1-3 Bond Street Row and New England House, in Brighton, and land at Falmer, Saltdean and south of Poynings.
The proposed sales are part of an “asset management plan” which was approved by the council’s cabinet last October as part of a drive to raise £55 million and reduce day-to-day running costs.
Officials considered, for example, whether to retrofit or demolish and rebuild the landmark New England House. But the cost could involve an outlay of up to £97 million.
The last of more than 100 business tenants moved out last month, affecting more than 700 workers since “an independent fire engineer concluded that New England House presented an intolerable fire risk in its existing condition” in November 2024.
A report to the council’s cabinet said: “Existing tenants have now relocated and therefore either a retrofit or redevelopment option would represent the largest speculative commercial development in the city for many years.
“This would expose the council to substantial construction, leasing, market and borrowing risks at a time when there is limited financial capacity to absorb further pressure.”
The closure of New England House resulted in the loss of 16,000 square metres of light industrial employment space.
The report to the cabinet did not list a price for the site but the council is looking to “deliver a policy-compliant mix” of housing and workspace.
The Bond Street Row property has six years left on its lease and brings in an annual rent of £9,500. The recommendation is to sell it – either to the tenant or on the open market.
Other council-owned properties in the area such as 7-13 Bond Street and 1-4 Bond Street Cottages have already been earmarked for disposal.
A triangle-shaped piece of land in Falmer, to the south of Park Street, could be sold on the open market.
Land to the north of Park Street, which hosts a farm shop and car park, is more likely to be relet to the existing tenant.
A four-and-a-half acre site in Saltdean could be sold to the tenant. It was used for grazing horses and is landlocked by the tenant’s land. The recommendation is to sell to the current tenant.
Another plot, 25 acres of land south of Poynings, is outside the Brighton and Hove boundary and within the South Downs National Park.
The proposal is to sell the land – a site of special scientific interest – to the National Trust, which owns the neighbouring Saddlescombe Farm, or to the existing tenant or on the open market.
At the same meeting, next Thursday, the council’s cabinet is being asked to approve the closure of Hove Park School’s Valley Campus, in Hangleton Way, consolidating the school on its Nevill Road site.
Governors liaised with the council to allow the move after pupil numbers halved in the past 13 years.
The school was £1.8 million in the red at the end of the latest financial year, with most of its funding based on pupil numbers. Operating from a single site will reduce costs.
The report on the school said: “Any capital receipt arising from the disposal of the Valley Campus will be treated as a corporate capital receipt, available to the council for deployment in accordance with its capital investment priorities.”
Selling off the site would require the approval of the Secretary of State for Education.
Since starting work on the asset management plan, the council has agreed to dispose of several properties including the former Pecksniff’s shop in The Lanes and its offices at Bartholomew House.
The cabinet is due to reach a decision at a meeting at Hove Town Hall which is scheduled to start at 10.30am next Thursday (16 July). The meeting is expected to be webcast.
Surely the bumper profits from the i360 will fill and holes in the cities budget!
What about Hove town hall? A brutalist eyesore that could be redeveloped ? When Brighton and Hove merged there were supposed to be savings on the duplicates between the two town councils.
“Asset management plan”? Sounds more like a selling off the family silver sale!
If the creatives form a co-operative to buy New England House, why can’t they be given this opportunity?
If you have assets that are of no use and even costing money then surely it is correct to dispose of them ?
Far better for the city to rent them out and have a regular income coming in. Once it’s sold, it’s sold and there is no further income. Crazily there is NO specific website for renting commercial property from the council. You are directed to a private London property website which covers the whole of the UK and does not showcase local commercial properties. This is a missed opportunity as some seeking to rent commercial space in the city may want to support their local council and rent from them directly, as oppose to a commercial landlord.
It’s worth reading the whole article, Tracy.
Your claim is not correct, as I’ve said this before to you Tracy, business rates are a thing. Also renting still has costs and expenses associated with it, selling means you don’t have to manage a building and avoid
“exposing the council to substantial construction, leasing, market and borrowing risks at a time when there is limited financial capacity to absorb further pressure.”