Dozens object to '˜overbearing' Hove flats plan

Forty of the 58 letters opposing the scheme were received by Brighton and Hove City Council in the fortnight before the council’s planning committee is due to reach a decision about the proposals.

Two previous applications to build a three-storey five-bedroom house in place of the bungalow in Tongdean Road were refused.

The new scheme is for three two-bedroom flats and a three-bedroom maisonette.

Hove Park ward councillor Vanessa Brown said: “This is situated in the Tongdean Conservation Area which is characterised by individual houses set in their own gardens.”

The Conservative councillor added: “It is not the appropriate place to start building flats. It would set a very unwelcome precedent.

“It is an over-development of the site and not in keeping with the street scene.”

She said that there was parking for two cars on site but the building had the potential to house four families in nine bedrooms.

Neighbour Matt Simpkin said that he liked the previous modern designs proposed for the site.

He said: “I was in favour of the previous applications since modernised housing on the site is in keeping with neighbours where there is a wide variety of housing styles.”

But the latest application was not in keeping with the character of the area as set out in the council’s planning policies.

Another neighbour, Elaine Noble, raised concerns about increased noise due to more people living on the site.

She said: “There will be a huge increase in noise and disturbance both during the building work but also when the flats and maisonette are occupied.

“Altogether there will be potentially 18 people living in this property which is currently occupied by a single person which will constitute a considerable increase in noise and disturbance both of traffic and possibly of late-night music.”

The new design by Yelo Architects is less bulky than the previously rejected applications.

A summary of neighbours’ objections said that they found the proposed scheme overbearing, inappropriate and creating a precedent for flats where there are currently single family homes.

The application is due to go before the planning committee at Hove Town Hall on Wednesday (September 12). The meeting is due to start at 2pm and will be open to the public.

Sarah Booker-Lewis is the Local Democracy Reporter for Brighton & Hove.

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