40 per cent of homes in new development aimed at locals in need
Planning permission has been granted for a prominent site on one of the city’s main gateways to be redeveloped for housing. Court Farm stands at the roundabout junction where Dyke Road meets the A27.
Councillors at today’s planning committee agreed to allow demolition of existing buildings and replacement with 69 flats in four blacks of between two and four storeys.
Forty per cent of homes – 28 in total - would be affordable properties aimed at people in housing need. Half of these would be for affordable rent, the remainder part-rent-part-owned.
All flats would have a balcony or garden.
There would be 107 parking spaces, landscaping and alterations to improve access onto King George VI Avenue.
The one-hectare site is at the north-eastern tip of 47-hectare Toads Hole Valley, outside the South Downs National Park. The Valley is earmarked for a mixed use scheme in City Plan Part 1, though no other planning applications have yet been submitted.
Approval for consultation on a Draft Supplementary Planning Document to provide guidance for the development of the remainder of the site will be sought from the economic development and culture committee tomorrow (12 January).
The principal of developing the site for housing has long been established. In 2012 a government planning inspector granted planning permission on the site for five detached houses and a nursing home.
The council has secured from developers £117,029 for education, £193,702 towards open spaces and indoor sport, £25,800 for the Local Employment Scheme, £51,750 for transport and £36,500 for public art.
Committee chair Councillor Julie Cattell said: “I’m delighted that we’ve secured 40 per cent affordable housing and other local benefits. Large sites like this are scarce in the city and this proposal makes much better use of it than previous proposals.”
The site is where the vans are behind the roundabout at the top of Dyke Road
An aerial view of the scheme, with flats in four blocks