Brighton and Hove City Council looks likely to buy a new block of flats after councillors approved changes to the planning permission for the building.
The flats – now known as the Kubic Apartments – were built in Whitehawk Road, Brighton, on the site of an old clinic after Martin Homes was granted permission in 2018.
The original planning permission included a condition that required 15 of the 38 flats should be “affordable” homes, with seven of those to be offered for sale though a shared ownership scheme.
But it has proved impossible to find a “registered provider” – or housing association – to manage the affordable homes.
Instead, the council is in talks to buy the block – worth an estimated £8.9 million – with a view to renting all 38 flats to people on the housing waiting list for an “affordable rent”.
Today (Wednesday 5 July), the council’s Planning Committee agreed to drop the condition that required seven of the flats to be in shared ownership with the occupants.
The decision helps clear the way for purchase talks between the council and the developer Martin Homes to proceed.
When the Planning Committee met at Hove Town Hall today, housing campaigner Daniel Harris said that Martin Homes had claimed to be running into financial difficulties with the scheme.
Mr Harris told the committee that the site was formerly owned by Sussex NHS Community Foundation Trust and sold for £350,000 in 2017.
Yet the council would pay in the region of £8.5 million for the completed building, he said, adding: “This is a large investment and capital borrowing to so-called ‘bail out’ this developer who clearly does not need bailing out if you look hard enough.”
Mr Harris said that “we need the homes, agreed, but at what price?” And he added that the council should “stay well clear and cut their losses”.
The Planning Committee voted unanimously to vary the conditions while others will handle talks about any sale.
C/f Park Royal, Montpelier Rd