Proposals for new affordable homes in Whitehawk halted

Proposals from the Homes for Brighton & Hove partnership to develop more than 200 new affordable homes on a site in the north of Whitehawk are to be stopped.

The decision was taken at a Homes for Brighton & Hove board meeting on Monday 18 March following a report identifying that the development of affordable housing would not be financially viable due to a number of access and technical difficulties on the site. 

Homes for Brighton & Hove

Homes for Brighton & Hove is a partnership between Brighton & Hove City Council and the Hyde Group, aiming to build 1,000 new much-needed affordable homes for rent and sale in the city for lower income, local working households.

The Homes for Brighton & Hove board is made up of three councillors from the main parties on the council’s Housing & New Homes Committee and three representatives from Hyde.

Whitehawk proposals

The Whitehawk site had been identified for housing development in the Draft City Plan Part Two, following the requirement to look for sites for 1,000 new homes on the city’s urban fringe to help meet the urgent need for housing established in the City Plan Part One.

Feedback from the public consultation and some local opposition expressing concerns about the environmental impact of the proposals were noted by the partners. Landscape and ecology studies have shown that, with certain ecological mitigations in place, housing could be developed on the site without significant adverse impacts on the Local Nature Reserve. 

Plans for the first two Homes for Brighton & Hove proposed developments in Portslade and Coldean are progressing, and further sites are being investigated.