Moulsecoomb’s youth club will be housed in a portable cabin while a new housing estate is built if revised plans are approved.
Brighton and Hove City Council is building more than 200 new homes plus a community hub on land off Hodshrove Road, where a number of council offices and buildings were located.
When planning permission was granted, a condition was put in place saying the old youth club – known as the 67 Centre – could only be demolished once its replacement was built.
But the council is now asking itself for permission to provide a temporary youth centre in a portable cabin instead.
It’s also proposing to reduce the height of two of the blocks of flats, but to squeeze more homes in on other parts of the site, increasing the total number of homes from 212 to 222.
Two applications have been submitted – one to make changes to the scheme and remove the condition about demolishing the youth centre.
That application says: “The application to remove the condition says: “Planning permission is sought for a minor material amendment to accommodate changes to the site layout in order to rationalise the building footprints and provide an additional 10 residential units which will boost housing supply.
“As a result of this the internal layouts and overall site layout have been amended. Duplex flats have now been removed from the scheme and Block L, which formerly constituted a tall building has now reduced in height by two storeys so falls beneath this threshold.
“The changes to the architectural layout has slightly impacted the landscaping design across the site.”
Another block – Block D – is also slightly reducing in height but not storeys.
The other application is for permission to put the portable cabin on land next to Moulsecoomb Leisure Centre’s car park.
It says: “The temporary accommodation will be ready to be decanted into from 13 March 2026, with the community hub building reaching completion and ready for occupation 13 December 2027.
“The reprovision of services has been extensively discussed with all user groups and BHCC to ensure that these are fully accommodated and that provision will not be comprised during the build out phase of the wider masterplan.
“The equipment that is being moved across from the 67 Centre includes table tennis tables, pool tables and darts boards, within the plans provided, there is still ample free space once the equipment has been moved across for music / dance related activities to take place.”
The 67 Centre was named after the year it was opened – 1967. It was built by Brighton Council at a cost of £33,000, and was Brighton’s first purpose built youth centre.
