Office blocks to be demolished for rental flats

Longley House in Crawley will be demolished and replaced with 121 rental apartments

Two office blocks in a West Sussex town are set to be demolished to make way for rental homes.

Crawley Borough Council has purchased the buildings of Longley House in the Southgate suburb of the town for £1.5m, and plans to replace them with 121 flats.

The site already has planning approval for apartments to replace the existing buildings, according to the council.

A council spokesman said that "with brownfield land in the borough in such short supply" it was "keen to secure this site for affordable housing rather than see it developed by a private enterprise".

Councillor Ian Irvine, cabinet member for housing, said: “We are constantly seeking opportunities to increase rental stock and locations like Longley House give us the chance to build high-quality new homes in place of under-utilised sites and reduce some of the pressure on our housing waiting list.”

News of this purchase follows approval in December of plans to have 300 affordable apartments constructed at nearby Telford Place, replacing a temporary car park.

A total of 95 of these will be affordable rented homes operated by the council.

Construction at both sites is expected to begin later this year.

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].