Planning and Environment Coordinators' report for 2007/8

Barry Leigh

Gabrielle Villermet

Working to enhance the North Laine

By Barry Leigh and Gabrielle Villermet, NLCA Planning and Environment Coordinators

As usual it has been a busy year for the Environment and Planning Coordinators. We have looked at approximately 90 planning applications for North Laine and we continue to represent the NLCA on the Conservation Advisory Group.

Conservation Advisory Group (CAG)

CAG consists of representatives from Conservation Areas in Brighton & Hove, the Brighton Society, Regency Society, Royal Institute of British Architects, Hove Civic Society, Sussex Archaeological Society, as well as from Brighton & Hove City Council. It meets every three weeks to look at plans affecting Conservation Areas and our comments go to B&H City Council Planning Subcommittee for consideration. In 2007 and to date CAG have looked at over 140 major applications, of which 8 were in North Laine. Most of these and also any other controversial planning applications are discussed at NLCA monthly meetings and our response to all these applications is democratically determined.

Planning

The best news we received in the past year was that the appeal against refusal for a 42-storey tower on the Brighton Station site was dismissed by the Government Inspector. We now await a new application for this site. The remainder of the site is now either already built or under construction.

Among the plans we have looked at have been numerous requests for changes of use to café/restaurant. These are changing the face of North Laine and we are very concerned that we are losing the traditional mix of retail, business and workshop use, which is detrimental to our Conservation Area.

We have commented on numerous applications for inappropriate folding doors, canopy blinds and additional lighting and heaters on pub fronts. These heaters (requested since the indoor smoking ban came into force) are ugly and detrimental to the Conservation Area and the environment and some have been installed without planning permission.

Article 4 Directions

The introduction of Article 4 Directions has resulted in fewer losses of original front doors and windows but we still have to be vigilant. We frequently see breaches of planning where work has been undertaken without permission. This is unfair to those who go through the correct channels and we try to ensure that retrospective permission is applied for.

Major applications

Major applications that we have look at and commented on, whether within or outside North Laine, include:

-    Proposed demolition of the Royal Alexandra Hospital, to be replaced by flats

-    An additional proposal for Brighton Marina which includes demolishing and rebuilding the Asda store, a petrol station, and building 1204 residential units in tower blocks of varying heights. This proposal is overdevelopment, detrimental to Regency seafront buildings nearby, and contravenes the Marina Act 1968, which forbids buildings higher than the cliffs.

-    Permission has been granted for a hotel to be built on the derelict Casino site in Queen's Road and Frederick Place. This is likely to cause severe disruption when demolition and building commences.

-    Amended plans have been looked at for the corner of Portland Street and Church Street but these were withdrawn and a new application is awaited.

-    The King Alfred development now has planning permission subject to numerous conditions.

-    We were consulted on plans to redevelop City College Brighton & Hove. We understand that a revised application is in the pipeline but at the date of writing this report it has not been published.

Good news is that at last the Bandstand is to be refurbished and work will soon begin.

Parking

Although there are still some considerable parking problems in North Laine, the new scheme has not had the disastrous effect that was feared and we welcome the introduction of visitors' parking permits at long last.

Communal bins

The Council is proposing to replace our weekly binvelope refuse collection with communal bins that would be emptied, and we hope cleaned, regularly. All residents should have received a questionnaire, including a location map, seeking our views. Binvelopes were the answer to the problem of gulls opening our black sacks and scattering the contents all over our streets, but sadly a minority of residents do not cooperate with their use. Communal bins would be sited at the ends of streets, not outside residents' houses. It would then be simple to dispose of small bags of refuse when passing the nearest bin. We currently await the result of the consultation.

Look out for planning applications

Residents are reminded to look out for planning applications that might affect them. These are published weekly in the B&H Leader and are on the Council's website. Detailed plans can now be viewed online and this has helped us enormously, as it is no longer necessary to go to City Direct at either of the Town Halls to see all the plans. (We only need to go to see major schemes that are too large to be looked at online.) We hope residents will contact us if they see plans that affect them and will send their comments both to B&H City Council and to ourselves.

[Previously published in the North Laine Runner, No 191, March/April 2008]