More than 100 homes for working people on low income will be built in the second major new development put forward by the Homes for Brighton & Hove partnership following approval by the planning committee.

Half of the 104 apartments in the £19 million development will be available at Living Wage rents and half for shared ownership.

The homes will be in two blocks of between four and seven storeys with more than 269 solar panels on the roofs and a landscaped courtyard in the middle.

Most of the units will be either one or two-bedroom, matching the demand for this kind of housing in the city – 84% of households on the council’s housing waiting list are looking for one or two bedroom properties.

The proposal

There will be:

• 11 studios – providing much-needed starter homes for local people
• 50 one-bedroom homes
• 39 two-bedroom homes
• four three-bedroom homes

Councillor Tracey Hill, chair of the city’s planning committee, said: “This will provide much-needed quality homes for low income households. In the current climate it’s going to make a significant contribution to providing affordable housing that is in extremely short supply in the city. 

“The proposal makes good use of an existing brownfield site where buildings have outlived their former use. With public transport links on the doorstep and solar panels for energy use, this is a good quality sustainable development.”

Landscaping

The development is next to the busy A259 (Wellington Road) and will have a green landscaped strip between the buildings and the road. Trees along the front will wrap around the site and continue into the courtyard.

A steel arch, a nod to the area’s former industrial heritage, will be a striking addition at the entrance of the main public space and native plants will provide biodiversity on the site. A further private landscaped area with trees will be planted by the western block.

Other benefits

Sports and recreation facilities, education, transport and local jobs will benefit from the planning contributions for the scheme, as follows:

• £97,650.00 for sustainable transport, including a car club, bicycle parking and 12-month season tickets for use on local buses
• £70,291 toward the cost of secondary and sixth form education at Portslade Aldridge Community Academy
• £54,696 for outdoor sports and green spaces such as children’s play equipment, improvements to parks, gardens, allotments and beach access
• £38,710 for indoor sports on  Western Lawns, King Alfred and/or Portslade Sports Centre
• £29,800 for the council’s Local Employment Scheme

Planning officers worked closely with the partnership to address concerns about the size of the development and air quality because of its proximity to the road. As a result one of the blocks was reduced in height and the buildings set further back to enable the green planted ‘buffer.’  

More information

Read the reports for the Planning Committee

Watch the Planning Committee