Flats plan for loss-making hotel set to be refused

After 18 months of inaction, officers are recommending that Brighton and Hove City Council’s planning committee refuses permission when it meets at Hove Town Hall on Wednesday (June 6).

When the plans for 22 flats were approved in October 2016, they were subject to agreement on five conditions.

The conditions were: nine “affordable” homes – 40 per cent of the total; an £11,400 contribution towards sustainable transport infrastructure; an £11,000 contribution towards the local employment scheme with a promise to employ 20 per cent local labour; a £28,584 contribution towards education; and a £54,928 contribution towards local open spaces.

The plans have gone back to the committee as none of the conditions have been addressed, according to a report to councillors, which adds that the application cannot stay open indefinitely.

The report said that the owners had failed to address appropriate affordable housing provision, impacts on sustainable transport, education, demand for open space and a contribution to the local employment scheme.

For the past ten years the hotel, in Preston Road, has traded at a loss of between £34,000 and almost £103,000 a year.

Its owners are Rovertos and Ermylos Savvides, who also own the Regency fish restaurant on Brighton seafront.

The report recommends that the planning committee refuses planning permission when it meets on Wednesday.

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

For more of her stories, click here.