Developer to appeal gasworks site homes decision

The planning application was for 481 flats and 14 townhouses

A developer plans to appeal a decision to refuse permission for hundreds of homes on a former gasworks site in East Sussex.

The £280m proposal in Brighton includes 495 homes - including 11 blocks of flats up to 12 storeys high - on land at the junction of Marina Way and Roedean Road.

Brighton & Hove City Council received more than 1,700 objections to the project.

A spokesman for developers St William said he was “disappointed” with the planning committee’s decision to reject the application.

The planning application was for 481 flats and 14 townhouses. It included 2,791sq/m of commercial space at ground floor level and a “green link”.

Councillors had been advised to grant planning permission with a request that developers made “reasonable endeavours” to provide affordable housing be made.

However, the committee was concerned about an “airy fairy” proposal to sell 40% of the homes to Sovereign Housing Association.

Appeal

Councillors also said the development would be be too big and cramped, would harm the area’s historic heritage and contained too few family homes.

St William, part of the Berkeley Group, spent years working on the proposals, which were rejected by seven votes to three at the end of a six-and-a-half-hour meeting.

The spokesman said the company was preparing an appeal.

“We have worked closely with the planning and design team at the council over the last four years to develop a balanced and high-quality proposal."

He said the "carefully designed plans" included public open space, new pedestrian and cycle routes and a mix of commercial uses to support up to 195 jobs.

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