This large family house is interesting but sadly it is disused and in poor condition. It has elements of the “Arts and Crafts” style and is reminiscent of the work of architect Charles Vosey, though it is unlikely he was ever involved.
The current owner wants to demolish it and replace it with a new home for his family. Ideally the existing building should be restored, but this is unlikely ever to happen: the house has been significantly re-configured internally and would be prohibitively expensive to return to its original layout, let alone to bring to modern energy efficiency standards.
Existing Arts & Crafts house
A number of differing designs have been proposed for a replacement, including a rather clumsy mock Georgian building which, fortunately, was refused planning permission. The latest proposal is much more sympathetic to the neighbouring buildings and it adopts some nice design features from its predecessor.
Proposed replacement
The Regency Society has encouraged the planners to grant permission this time.
Into the Backlands
We need to keep reminding ourselves that our city needs thousands of new homes. The main solution probably lies in big new apartment buildings, which usually encounter significant opposition, sometimes with good cause.
Meanwhile, all over the city, property owners are looking out of their back windows and wondering if they can slip one or two new homes into their back garden or parking space.
Two examples of this sort of backland development came onto our radar recently. One is in Wilbury Road , Hove, where there is a proposal to demolish 8 dilapidated garages and build a modern two-storey house with “landscaping” and cycle storage.
Wilbury Road existing site
Wilbury Road proposed home at rear of existing property
Another is out at Crescent Drive North in Woodingdean where a two-storey modern home is proposed with basement parking. The existing garden is long so, if the scheme is approved there will still be a good-sized green space between the existing and the new homes.
Section of proposed home at rear of Woodingdean home
Neither of these schemes is going to solve the housing crisis, but perhaps every little helps!
The Meeting House, Coldean
This interesting property was built in 1963 as a Mormon meeting house. In 1993 it was converted as a 4 bedroom home, which it still is. There have been several previous applications for the site; all have been refused, including one taken to appeal.
Existing building (centre of photo)
This application clearly tries to address the reasons for earlier refusals. A strong case is made by the applicant’s planning consultants, backed up with other specialist reports. The building is not listed, nor in a conservation area. It is in poor condition and is not in keeping with the more conventional bungalows around it.
Proposal for 12 flats
The proposal is for two new buildings, described as “semi-detached chalet bungalows similar in appearance and scale to the surrounding context, with hipped roofs and subservient dormer windows”. They will provide 12 new flats.
The Planning Forum, attended by members of the Regency Society and Hove Civic Society hovecivicsociety.org meets monthly to discuss planning applications which the Forum considers significant. Each society forms its own view on the applications and decides what action, if any, to take.
The Regency Society, like many organisations, is going online for its events for the foreseeable future.
This means that our 2020/2021 lecture programme will be available online. Each video lecture will appear on the relevant page on this website as it becomes available.
We are aware that not everyone is familiar with browsing on Youtube, and you do not need to do so to watch our lectures as they become available. However, we will use our YouTube channel to house RS lectures for as long as our lecture presenters are happy for them to be there, so if you want to browse previous lectures you can do so there. Visit our YouTube Channel (lectures will be added here as they are released).
It also contains a miscellany of other publicly available videos which may be of interest to members, drawn from various sources. If you would like to make suggestions for additions, please contact us.
It was a large department store in Western Road Hove, near Palmeira Square. It opened in 1921 and closed in 1982. The building is now known as Hill House. It has shops at ground floor with flats above. A mansard roof was added to the (lower) central section, containing additional flats.
An applications has been submitted for a roof extension to adapt the existing mansard roof and provide eight more flats with new terraces for the third and fourth floors. All windows will be replaced and there will be improvements to some existing flats.
The proposed works will be a clear benefit to the appearance of the building on its Western Road frontage. However, not enough detail is provided of the other proposed improvements. Hove Civic Society is submitting a comment welcoming in principle the improvement to the roofline and front elevation but encouraging the Council to seek clear assurances about other enhancements to the building.
A second try in Rock Place
A new application has been submitted for a mixed-use development in Rock Place, Kemp Town. It is similar to one we looked at previously and supported, which was subsequently withdrawn. The revised scheme introduces a shared roof terrace and goes from 5 one-bed flats to 3 one-bed and 1 two-bed. The fenestration has also been changed and the resulting appearance is more in keeping with the character of the conservation area.
The developer has already completed work on a previously approved, similar scheme on the opposite side of the street. The quality of work is good.
Again we have submitted a supportive comment.
Rock Place (withdrawn application)
Rock Place (present application)
Polishing the Crown? Hmm
Crown House is in Upper North Street, at the junction with Dyke Road. It’s prominent position makes it visible from far and wide. Sadly it is not one of the city’s architectural gems.
We have recently looked at plans to re-clad the building, fit new windows and doors and make various other changes. The result should be a significant improvement to its appearance.
Crown House as it is now
Crown House with cladding (illustration)
The Planning Forum, attended by members of the Regency Society and Hove Civic Society hovecivicsociety.org meets monthly to discuss planning applications which the Forum considers significant. Each society forms its own view on the applications and decides what action, if any, to take.
We wanted to capture the unusual sights of the last few months so we asked Regency Society members and James Gray Collection Project volunteers to take photos of our city during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.
They responded remarkably enthusiastically. Over 180 images came in on several themes, all taken in May and June 2020.
This was a fascinating period of empty streets and unusual sights, which evidently sometimes caught the eye and prompted creative thoughts in our intrepid photographers. We all hope that this crisis will soon fade into a distant memory. Nonetheless, we may like to look back and remember what it was like.
I think the results are wonderful. They display very many ways of thinking about this period. Some of these photos contain sights we will probably never see again. They also show that the RS family (members and volunteers) think a lot about what they see in our city and are very good at documenting it, both in the images and the captions.
The impending closure of the Brighton General Hospital site presents an unrepeatable opportunity to conserve a major historic asset of national significance and to make on a brownfield site a substantial contribution to reducing the city’s housing deficit. The Regency Society has already supported the campaign to have the part of the hospital site once occupied by the Brighton Workhouse designated as a Conservation Area.
Our vision for the former Brighton Workhouse is for it to be transformed from a place people were desperate to avoid into one they are keen to live and work in and to enjoy. Our ambition is for the site to be developed for the optimum benefit of the community, including the benefit the historic environment can bring to well-being.
We have three prime objectives for the workhouse site: securing the future of the historic buildings by sustainable reuse; generating new housing on the site in suitable historic buildings and in new buildings; enhancing the setting of the historic buildings and the character and amenity of the area by making it virtually car-free.
Government guidance on the disposal of heritage assets by public bodies is that accepting the highest purchase offer is not always appropriate, large historic sites should be considered as a whole, and heritage assets need sustainable ownership.
The Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust proposes to develop a Community Health Hub on Elm Grove, adjacent to the workhouse site on the site of the Sussex Rehabilitation Centre and the former ambulance station.
Above: Front of Main Workhouse (Arundel) from Elm Grove
Above: Aerial view of the Workhouse Site from the North
Above:Aerial view of Hospital Site from the South
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
The Workhouse Phase I
A trapezium of agricultural land between what are now Elm Grove, Freshfield Road and Pankhurst Avenue was bought for a new workhouse in 1854; the workhouse was built between 1865 and 1867. The cost was met by selling the desirable urban site of the previous workhouse on Church Hill. Soon afterwards, Isfield and Jevington were built, Marina was enlarged, and a third storey was added to the Lunatic Wards, Freshfield.
The Workhouse Phase 2
The site was extended west by a long narrow rectangle between Elm Grove and Pankhurst Avenue used for the construction of new Casual Wards, Bramber, in 1887 and the New Infirmary Wards, Edburton and Dyke in 1891 and Cuckmere in 1898.
The Hospital
Brighton Municipal Hospital developed the southern half of the workhouse kitchen garden in the 1930s as a nurses’ home, now replaced by the flats at 85 Pankhurst Avenue. The northern half is the proposed site for the new NHS Community Health Hub.
Above: Main Workhouse (Arundel) with Varndean top left, Jevington top right, Glynde bottom left
Above: Infirmary (Fulking) left, Lunacy Wards (Fletching) right
SPECIAL INTEREST and CHARACTER
The special interest of the site lies in its having once had quite possibly the most complete set of workhouse buildings in the country, the majority of which survive, making it reputedly the best preserved workhouse complex in the country. Its value is as much as a group as in the individual buildings.
The main Workhouse building (Arundel), the Infirmary (Fulking) and the Lunatic Wards (Fletching) survive in their totality and the women’s half of the original Casual Wards (Varndean). The less interesting though unusual Smallpox Wards and the general Fever Wards have been demolished. The uncommon separate Infant Ward survives, absorbed into a larger building (Glynde); children were already provided for separately at the now demolished Warren Farm Industrial Schools at Woodingdean.
There is substantial survival of the ancillary buildings which were the workplaces of the inmates. The original outer perimeter wall survives relatively intact on Elm Grove and Freshfield Road. Elements of the walls dividing the various enclosures within it remain, including the walls of the cart road and turning circle to the kitchen of the main Workhouse building and one of the pair either side of the Infirmary.
Architectural Interest
The visual architectural interest of the site lies largely in the expression of the relative importance of the buildings by their differently sophisticated designs. Major buildings have showpiece entrance fronts and are rendered, with “polite” classical detailing, while secondary and ancillary buildings are of vernacular flintwork with brick dressings.
The intangible architectural interest lies in the site as a demonstration of the development of the design of workhouses. The Workhouse proper (Arundel) is a late and mature example of a corridor-plan workhouse, with recesses at the back to admit light and air into the corridors and a separate chapel above the dining hall, rather than a single shared space. The canted window bays in the junction of the rear wing allowed the Master and Matron to oversee the outside airing grounds for the inmates from their apartment.
In the extension site, the New Casual Wards (Bramber) retain evidence for the cellular system whereby vagrants were required to undertake stone-breaking in individual workspaces attached to their cells.
The additional New Infirmary Wards (Edburton, Dyke and Cuckmere) are separate, high-ceilinged pavilion-plan “Nightingale wards” which provide superior ventilation, as adopted by military and civilian hospitals after the Crimean War.
Historic Interest
The main historical interest of the site is as evidence of changing attitudes towards and provision for those members of society less able to maintain and house themselves: a debate which continues today. It exemplifies the different forms of support available: indoor and outdoor relief and the casual wards. It is a tangible demonstration of the segregation of the adult inmates into men and women, the able bodied - of two degrees - and the infirm, the “deserving” and “undeserving” and of the different and changing tasks they were required to undertake, which gave the workhouse its name.
The New Casual Wards building is special evidence of contemporary attitudes to vagrancy. The scale of the three New Infirmary Wards is indicative of the changing nature of workhouse inmates as the 19th century progressed.
The use of the workhouse during the First World War as a hospital for wounded Indian soldiers adds a further layer of historical interest.
Above: Old Women’s Casual Ward (Varndean) centre, New Casual Wards (Bramber) right
Above: New Infirmary Wards, Cuckmere left, Dyke centre, Edburton right.
Historic Character
The original character of the workhouse was that of an enclosed precinct to contain the inmates, with a single controlled access point, within which the principal buildings had their own controlled enclosures, which were further subdivided for the various categories of inmates. Much of the space within the overall and the individual enclosures was garden areas. Though trees were originally confined to the outer perimeter, subsequently planted now-mature trees make a valuable contribution to the present character of the site.
The buildings take the form of detached blocks for different purposes. The core of the site around the main Workhouse building is laid out orthogonally to the bisecting line of the acute angle between Elm Grove and Freshfield Road. The peripheral buildings are laid out parallel to the surrounding roads. The formality of the layout is relieved by the fall of the ground from Pankhurst Avenue towards and down Elm Grove.
PROTECTING the HERITAGE ASSET
The whole of the former workhouse site already enjoys substantial protection as a heritage asset. The main Workhouse building (Arundel) is Grade II Listed. The listing includes the whole of the rear wing and The Lodge which was once attached to the back of the east wing. The interiors are all covered.
Recent unsuccessful applications to demolish the Lunatic Wards (Freshfield) and Isfield and a successful application for alterations to and demolition of additions to Dyke Building have all required listed building consent. These applications define the listed curtilage as including the whole of both phases of the workhouse site and determine that any development within them affects the setting of the Listed Building. The final draft of City Plan 2 confirms this, stating that "The three 1802 (sic) Infirmary and Workhouse Blocks are located within the curtilage of the principal listed building and are therefore also listed".
Designation as a Conservation Area would complement the existing protection of the site and ensure that it was treated holistically. The Conservation Management Plan to be prepared after designation would in effect become the Planning Brief for its redevelopment.
Above: Historical plan Below: Re-use plan
USING the HISTORIC BUILDINGS
All the historic workhouse buildings are capable of beneficial re-use, fully justifying their retention.
Residential Use
All the buildings which were once occupied by those receiving indoor relief are capable of residential use. The Workhouse proper (Arundel) is convertible to apartments; additional residential units could be built on the footprint of its lost laundry wing. The Infirmary (Fulking) and Lunatic Wards (Fletching) and Glynde are convertible to flats. The new Infirmary Wards (Cuckmere, Dyke, Edburton) are convertible to residential use as, potentially, is Jevington.
Alternative Uses
The surviving women’s side of the original Casual Wards (Varndean) is not suitable for residential use. It is conveniently located for both site occupants and the local community at the main site entrance and could be reused for retail and catering. Rebuilding the shell of the lost men’s side would give provide additional, more flexible space.
The replacement Casual Wards (Bramber) is not obviously suited to residential use and is well situated directly off Elm Grove to provide community facilities for both residents and the wider neighbourhood.
Isfield, Marina and Seaford are unsuitable for residential use but could find a variety of commercial uses appropriate to the buildings and their location. The basement floors of Cuckmere, Dyke and Edburton are unsuitable for residential use, but could have commercial uses.
CREATING NEW HOUSING
The final draft City Plan 2 calls for a minimum of 200 new housing units on the whole hospital site. The historic buildings suitable for residential reuse use could provide about 200 units, for over 700 people.
There are two areas within the workhouse site suitable for building additional housing, the triangular parking area in the northeast corner and a rectangular area on the west side between Bramber and Cuckmere which includes the present visitors’ car park, Poynings and Briggs. Developing these two areas at the same density of 115 units per hectare as 85 Pankhurst Avenue, on the site of the nurses’ home, would increase the total number of residents to over 1000 in about 280 units.
Allowing for the areas occupied by historic buildings that are unsuitable for residential use, this would give an overall density of around 80 units per hectare, 60% more than the minimum set by the Council for new developments outside the city centre.
The ratio of residential unit sizes in the historic buildings will be dictated by the buildings themselves: their plan form, structural compartmentation, the position of staircases and chimney breasts, fenestration, even ceiling heights. These constraints mean that apartments within the historic buildings could well exceed minimum space standards and be less affordable initially and in running costs.
Any mismatch with the required ratio of unit sizes and the balance between affordable and open-market housing can be redressed by new buildings. The amount of affordable housing re-development can support is not yet calculable. As an indicator, half of the potential newly built housing on the site would equate to 15% of the total.
ENHANCING the ENVIRONMENT
The character of the former workhouse area, the setting of the historic buildings and the public amenity of the site would be greatly enhanced by freeing it from traffic and visible parking.
There are currently 400 surface parking spaces on the workhouse site, 340 of which are accessible only via the main entrance. Allowing the same three parking spaces per four residential units as at 85 Pankhurst Avenue, the whole parking requirement of the workhouse site could be met by two levels of covered parking beneath the western development area, approached directly from Elm Grove using the existing service road west of Bramber.
The removal of on-site traffic, other than for service vehicles and blue badge holders, and elimination of kerbside parking would allow for shared use roads and some could become free of vehicles altogether. Traffic noise would be minimised and air-quality improved.
The reduced traffic level on site would avoid the need for separate entry and exit points. This would allow the incongruously landscaped traffic island to be replaced by a reconstruction of the shell of the lost men’s half of the Casual Wards, allowing the main pedestrian entrance to become, as originally, through the building.
Demolition of the derelict café on the corner of Elm Grove and Freshfield Road would allow the enclosure wall to be reinstated to its original alignment with a rounded corner. The Hilltop Nursery is of no intrinsic architectural quality and out of character with the historic buildings. A nursery could be included in community facilities in Bramber.
The space released by the demolition of post-Victorian buildings and additions and the removal of surface parking would provide additional public open space and recapture in part the original extent of garden areas. Additional tree planting would further enhance the character of the open spaces.
A limited number of additional pedestrian entrances to the site could be created without significantly affecting the special interest of the boundary wall. With the main entrance, new pedestrian entrances could connect the site with the surrounding community while keeping the feeling of its historic enclosed nature.
Some explanation of the history of the site could be added to the plans of the complex that will be required at the entrances and at key locations such as pedestrian exits from the car parks. Fuller historical interpretation could be placed in the community centre.
Developer St William homes has just completed a first consultation on a proposed scheme for the gasworks site in East Brighton. Whilst we are delighted that someone has a proposal for this blighted site, we are not happy with their current ideas.
The gasworks site sits on a neglected piece of land immediately above and to the west of Marina Way. Neglected because the current and former gasholders on the site make it problematic to build on, it has stood empty for many years. We believe it represents an opportunity lost so far - it could form a focus for the lively, mixed area at the Eastern edge of Brighton currently made up of separate and disparate communities around its edges.
We are welcoming a proposal to build a new five-bedroom house on a vacant plot in Surrenden Road. The site is between two existing houses and looks as if it has never been developed. It has been the subject of a number of very different applications.
89 Surrenden Road
This latest scheme proposes a contemporary design. The wording of our comment to the Planning Authority is as follows:
“The Regency Society of Brighton and Hove supports application BH2020/01216 for the erection of a five-bedroom house on the land adjoining 89 Surrenden Road.
The proposed scheme is a contemporary design with very clean junctions between surfaces. There are, for example, no gutters along the lower edges of the sloping roofs. The plans for each floor are well thought out. It is interesting to note the unusual detail on the sides at first floor level consisting of two external planted areas.
The choices of materials, red/brown tiles and white render, will blend in well with the character of the area.”
One building too many?
Just take a look at the 3D illustration below! The road running across the bottom left hand corner is Davigdor Road. The grey building on the left and the four linked buildings across the top don’t exist but have been approved. The large L shaped block in the lower right-hand corner includes the Montefiore Hospital.
That leaves the two blue buildings. The one on the left already exists. The other is the subject of a new planning application just submitted: it would be a six storey block of 43 flats over a car park.
We have discussed this with Hove Civic Society at our joint planning forum. Both societies agree that the application should be refused and Hove Civic will submit an objection. The proposed new building is far too close to the hospital. Very little detail has been provided about the design and materials and nothing to show what it would actually look like.
Third time lucky?
Meanwhile, nearby at the junction of Cromwell Road and Palmeira Avenue, a third attempt is being made to get approval for a large new building. Previous versions proposed housing and a hotel. We objected to the hotel which seemed rather an odd idea for this location. It has now been dropped The whole site is now proposed for housing with a south facing landscaped garden to the rear. The appearance has been improved slightly but the overall design is still uninspiring. For example, none of the flats include balconies.
Proposed new hotel for Cannon Place
The formal application for this has not yet been submitted but you can see here the consultation document. The public consultation period was very short and has now closed but The Regency Society has submitted to the council this comment.
Further images and details will be published later on this website.
The Planning Forum, attended by members of the Regency Society and Hove Civic Society hovecivicsociety.org meets monthly to discuss planning applications which the Forum considers significant. Each society forms its own view on the applications and decides what action, if any, to take.
The 19th century locally listed former dairy in Hove may become housing plus a new office building. Planning permission seeks approval to build 25 new homes, of which four will be affordable.The proposals involve the conversion of existing buildings within the front of the site, along with sympathetic extensions and new build development at the front and rear. Vehicle and cycle parking is spread out across the site to ensure that no part of the site is dominated by these features.
The design creates three central courtyards within the site as attractive focal points, while integrating historical features, such as the brick archways and external finishes.Traditional materials are replicated on the office building with new flint and brick dressings added.
The Regency Society commends the plan and design but has submitted comments, available here, about parking spaces.
Modern infill in Hove - does it work?
There is an application for a three storey, three bedroom house of modern design adjacent to Cowdray Lodge? Do you think it's OK?
Application site between the arrows
3D diagram of proposed house
Hove Civic will be opposing the application. Watch this space for their objection.
Protecting Brighton’s 19th Century Heritage
Montpelier Road
Regency Square
Montpelier Road
70 - 74 Montpelier Road is a Grade II listed terrace of five identical houses of 1840, within the Montpelier and Clifton Hill conservation area.
The proposed internal alterations to the basement would have minimal adverse impact on the special interest of the building, provided the new internal shower room can be ventilated without affecting the front elevation.
The proposed conversion of the rear room window to a French window and moving the position of the external door of the back extension would have negligible impact and provide commensurate benefits.
However, the Society is concerned about the loss of the basement coal cellar. All five houses in the terrace still retain their original coal cellars and steps. We have objected to the application in the belief that the historic character of the whole terrace should be retained.
Meanwhile in the neighbouring Regency Square conservation area we are objecting to an application in another terrace.
21 – 25 Regency Square is a terrace of originally identical houses of c1818 attributed to Amon and Amon Henry Wilds. It is of Group Value with the other listed buildings in the Square. It forms the north side of the short street between the northwest corner of the square and Preston Street.
No 23 is currently implementing retrospective listed building consent for renewing the first floor balcony, having started work without consent.
Our brief objection reads as follows: “This proposal would be detrimental to the special interest of the listed building, the setting of other listed buildings in Regency Square, with which it has group value, and to the character of the Regency Square conservation area.
“The first-floor windows of Nos 22 and 23 are the only two original bow windows remaining on the terrace. If the window is beyond practical repair, then its replacement should have curved multi-pane sashes with slender glazing bar and frame sections, without the non-existent horns shown erroneously on the drawing but with the brackets at the head of the mullions, which are not shown.”
The Planning Forum, attended by members of the Regency Society and Hove Civic Society hovecivicsociety.org meets monthly to discuss planning applications which the Forum considers significant. Each society forms its own view on the applications and decides what action, if any, to take.
Feature image above - front of listed workhouse, with boundary wall
We have strongly supported the designation as a conservation area of the parts of the Brighton General Hospital once occupied as the Brighton Workhouse. This is a major heritage asset for the City of Brighton and Hove, of great social value and of national importance as the most complete surviving workhouse complex in the country.
The site is of special interest not only for the almost complete preservation of the major workhouse buildings, including the former Infirmary and Lunatic Ward, but also of many of the ancillary buildings without which it could not have operated. The extensive survival of the division into distinct functional areas, and of the separation between men and women inmates, is of particular significance. The social interest as a former workhouse is complemented by its use during the First World War as a hospital for wounded Indian soldiers.
The workhouse site already enjoys considerable protection. The main building (Arundel) is Grade II listed. Its curtilage, for which listed building consent would be required for demolition or harmful alterations of historic structures, logically comprises the whole of the original 1860s site, bounded by Elm Grove, Freshfield Road, Pankhurst Avenue and the service road across the middle of the site. Development within this area would affect the setting of the listed building, as could development within the 1880-90s extension of the workhouse to the west of the service road.
General Hospital site plan, north at the bottom
Designation of a conservation area including both workhouse areas would protect historic buildings in the extension against unjustified external alteration or demolition. All development, whether it affected the setting of the listed building or not, could affect the special interest and character of the conservation area, as could development in the remainder of the hospital site, including the ambulance station.
The process of designating a conservation area, like listing a historic building, starts with the appraisal of its architectural, historic and societal value. The value placed upon a historic asset by the local community is a material consideration for appraisal and designation. Their aspirations for future ownership and uses and considerations of development economics, energy efficiency and carbon emissions are not material at this point. These come into play with the production of a master plan for the whole site and with applications for planning permission and listed building consent.
To ensure the most beneficial use of the site it should be treated as a single entity, with a master plan, and not be disposed of piecemeal. We shall seek to ensure that there is proper public consultation at all appropriate stages, before and after disposal.
The Regency Society would value your comments on this. You will receive a reply.
If you go down the steps by the pub at Hove Station, you come to the site for a likely and very large development between Ellen Street and Conway Street, one of Hove’s less attractive corners.
The plan is for a major new building of varying heights up to 18 storeys. providing commercial space plus 216 new “build to rent” flats. The development is being called “Hove Gardens”, presumably to reflect the provision of two large roof terraces at first floor level.
This is not the first attempt to create “Hove Gardens” on this site. Back in 2016 an application was submitted for a new building with 186 flats plus some office and retail space. This well-designed scheme was refused by the Planning Committee on the grounds that it did not offer enough affordable housing. In 2019 that decision was overturned on appeal. While there is always disappointment at the lack of affordable housing in new developments, this outcome had a good side to it - the attractive design could go ahead
2016 design
However, the site was then sold and the new owner decided not to build the approved scheme. Instead they have submitted this one.
2020 design
While the Regency Society fully supports the principle of a large-scale, mixed use development on this site, we are disappointed by the proposed design and further by a complete lack of affordable housing.
The Brighton and Hove city plan recognises the need for significant amounts of new housing to be developed. Much of this need will be met by large scale developments such as those currently underway at Circus Street and Lewes Road. However some contribution will come from smaller schemes. We have looked at two such schemes recently.
One application is for outline permission for 9 new houses at Sussex Place, just north of the Circus Street development. This former industrial site already has permission for a block of flats. We believe that the new proposal will result in a much better use of the site but we will look closely at the full details when an application is made for full planning permission.
Meanwhile, not far away is another small scheme being suggested in the North Laine Conservation Area. It is on a vacant plot towards the eastern end of Gloucester Road currently used for parking. If this scheme gets the go-ahead it will not only provide new homes but may also protect the conservation area against the visual impact of the large new building on the site of the former Astoria Theatre in Gloucester Place.
The Planning Forum, attended by members of the Regency Society and Hove Civic Society hovecivicsociety.org meets monthly to discuss planning applications which the Forum considers significant. Each society forms its own view on the applications and decides what action, if any, to take.
