A public inquiry into the refusal of a planning application for a residential-led development on the former Brighton Gasworks site will run from 9:30am on 18 March 2025 for 8 days (excluding Mondays). The inquiry is scheduled to close on 28 March 2025.
The inquiry will be held in the main council chamber in Brighton Town Hall.
All Inquiry documents, including Core Documents and Inquiry Documents, are available to view by the public.
The application by the developer, St William, for a mixed-use redevelopment and regeneration of the brownfield site was refused by councillors at a special Planning Committee on 22 May 2024.
On 7 October 2024, St William announced that it had submitted an appeal to the government’s Planning Inspectorate following the refusal of the application.
Planning appeals are the responsibility of the National Planning Inspectorate, which is an executive agency sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. It is entirely independent of the council.
Information about the planning appeal process and how to contact the Planning Inspectorate can be found on its website.
In this case, the Secretary of State for Housing has called the application in. This means that the Planning Inspector will make a recommendation, but the final decision will be made by the Secretary of State.
The hearing is open to the public and the media, and the inspectorate has published a guide on how members of the public can take part.
Once the inquiry is over, the Planning Inspectorate will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State who will then make the decision to either uphold the refusal of the application or to approve it.
The inspector will usually make their recommendation within two months, after which the Secretary of State will confirm their decision.
All documents relating to the application and the appeal can be viewed on the council’s planning register, by searching for application reference number BH2021/04167.
