Ten new “affordable” homes could be built on the site of an old pub if a planning application submitted by Brighton and Hove City Council is approved by councillors next week.
The council’s Planning Committee is due to decide whether a terrace of five houses and a block of five flats can go up on the old Toby Inn site, at 104 Cowley Drive, Woodingdean.
The pub closed 20 years ago and, according to the council’s planning application, the building has no heritage or architectural value.
While it would be possible to retrofit the building, the option was described as “not optimal”. Instead, the two new buildings – two and three storeys high – would make better use of the sit, the plans said.
A report to the Planning Committee recommended granting planning permission for the scheme and said that all 10 homes would be classed as affordable.
Eleven objections were sent to the council, citing extra traffic and not enough parking spaces, the loss of a community asset and inadequate public consultation.
Objectors said that the three-storey block of flats would be too tall and out of character among family homes. They said that the scheme would be an “overdevelopment” and lead to a loss of outlook, light and privacy.
There was already insufficient capacity at Woodingdean Medical Centre, they said, and the scheme did not provide enough recharging points for electric cars.
The council received one letter of support saying that the pub looked rundown and unsightly and was no longer viable and added that, once the project was completed, the site would be vastly improved.
The council instructed BakerBrown, the practice run by Brighton University academic Duncan Baker-Brown, the architect behind the Waste House – a house built entirely from recycled rubbish.
The application for the Toby Inn site said: “The design is for a new housing project that supports Brighton and Hove City Council’s strategic objective to increase the supply of high-quality affordable homes across the city.
“This site has been identified as having the potential to deliver new family houses for people on the council’s housing register.”
The plans include six parking spaces on the site and two more designated spaces on the street as well as eight cycle parking spaces. The council owns 16 nearby garages for rent. Four of the flats would be designated car-free.
The council’s Planning Committee is due to decide the application at a meeting at Hove Town Hall on Wednesday 2 September. The meeting is scheduled to start at 2pm and to be webcast.
