Major developments

Over the years the Society has made representations on a large number of applications. We tend to support proposals which we believe will bring added value to the City and object to others, which we consider to unsuitable. Examples in the last few years include:

2017: Hove Gardens, 1-3 Ellen Street, Texaco Garage Redevelopment, Kingsway, Medina House, Kings Esplanade – supported;

2018: House, Kingsway, Lyons Close – supported

2019: Sackville Road Trading Estate, supported, KAP development Newtown Road objected, Palmeira Avenue/Cromwell Road objected

2020: Continued support Sackville Road Trading Estate, Further objection Palmeira Avenue / Cromwell Road, Support Cricket Ground proposals

Below are some details of the major applications or development proposals we have commented on in the past.

MODA development (Sackville Trading Estate / Hove Goods Yard)

The summary of the Society’s comments in 2019 is as follows:

The Committee of Hove Civic Society supports the proposal by MODA.

The committee welcomes the proposed build to rent housing and older persons’ accommodation that will meet an important housing need for the city. The committee also believes that the proposed employment uses including the work live units will be a major local asset.
The committee appreciates the general layout of the scheme and how it is designed to allow adjoining areas to the east to be connected once developed. This reflects the ambitions of the draft Hove Station Neighbourhood Plan which aims to create an integrated Hove Station Quarter.
The committee also appreciates the low car parking ratio proposed, which, with supporting car parking management measures, will substantially limit the impact on surrounding areas.
The committee considers the proposed landscaping to be of highest quality and sees this as an essential component of the scheme, which needs to be nurtured and maintained for the lifetime of the proposed development.
The committee believes that planning agreement funds need to be spent in the vicinity of the development to ameliorate environmental and community impacts.

Rampion wind farm

Hove Civic Society welcomes the decision announced on 16.7.14 to give consent to the Rampion wind farm project, which will generate 2.1 bn kWh pa of carbon free electricity to keep the lights on in Sussex from 2017, at a cost to consumers of between 12-16 p/kWh. This is a good step forward, but will not be enough in itself to meet the government’s target of providing 15% of all energy use, including transport, to be renewable by 2020, rising to 34% by 2030. Other carbon saving renewable energy projects are therefore also required.

Shoreham gas fired power station faces Rampion across the sea, and throws away 20% more energy than Rampion will generate, namely 2.5 bn kWh pa of hot water at about 30 degrees C. These carbon emissions could be saved if the station was converted to Combined Heat and Power / District Heating (CHP/DH) by removing a few rows of turbine blades to increase the temperature to 90 degrees C. The station could then keep the radiators hot in 100,000 buildings (150,000 homes) from Worthing to Kemp Town at a cost of less than 7p/kWh. The energy efficiency of the station would then rise from about 50% to over 90%.

This technology has been practised in Northern Continental Europe for a century, where most power stations are over 90% efficient by feeding their waste heat into a district heating network, keeping the radiators hot as well as the lights on in their towns. For example, in Denmark practically every urban building is already connected to a district heating network, enabling the Danish government to legislate to become zero carbon by 2050.

This CHP/DH project would save carbon emissions at half the cost of Rampion (less than 7p/kWh compared to 12-16p/kWh) It is also more economically viable (less cost per kWh to consumers) than power from Hinckley Point C nuclear power station, estimated to cost 9.5p/kWh. It has less environmental impact than fracking for gas at Balcombe. It would also create more local jobs, with zero environmental impact once the pipes are laid in the streets, and have an economic life of more than a century.

It is therefore the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly way of saving carbon emissions in Sussex, so should be included in the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s, (DECC’s) energy policy. It should be professionally evaluated in a pre-feasibility study (preferably by continental consulting engineers who are used to this technology) at an estimated cost of £40,000.

2014-07-17 Rampion press release

Shoreham Harbour

The draft Shoreham Harbour Joint Area Action Plan has been out on consultation. This closed on the 24^th April.

There is much in the plan which we support but we have asked the planners to give stronger emphasis to their notion that the harbour area should become a hub for renewable energy. We have suggested that a new section concentrating on energy is inserted in the plan and that this contains a number of policies that relate to how new development could bring about a higher level of renewable energy generation on site.

We have also made the point that the waste heat from the power stations (Shoreham Power Station and Edgeley Green Power Station) should be harnessed as far as possible.

Our representations build on what we said in the context of the Brighton and Hove City Plan and the resulting modifications which we agreed with the City Council.

You can find the Shoreham Harbour Joint Area Action Plan here: http://www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/media/media,121462,en.pdf .

2014-03-10 Shoreham Harbour Joint Area Action Plan

i360

It was with great relief and pleasure that we received the news that the Council has agreed the £36M loan facility for the I 360. We believe that the I 360 will be an iconic statement on the seafront to complement the many exciting developments that make Brighton and Hove an international attraction. Apart from tidying up this part of the seafront and being a fine piece of architecture in itself it will provide an important additional attraction to Brighton and Hove. That means more footfall, more turnover, more business, which is exactly what we need to support the local economy.

Brighton Hippodrome

MIDDLE STREET / SHIP STREET, BRIGHTON – BH2013/04348

Works to Brighton Hippodrome and Hippodrome House to form an eight screen cinema (retention of Use Class D2) and four associated café/restaurant units (Use Class A3/A4)

i) Cinema with 8 screens and a total of 1,012 seats;

ii) Four restaurant / café units with a total GFA of around 2,420m²;

iii) New A1 retail uses (including a new unit on Ship Street) with a total GFA of around 1,287m²; and

iv) B1 offices above the proposed retail unit with a GFA of 394m².

Hove Civic Society was one of the groups of the city’s conservation advisory group being given a guided tour of the Hippodrome and a detailed explanation of development proposals late in 2013.

We welcome the proposed rescue of the hippodrome and fully support the proposal. This is an important part of the city’s heritage and the works proposed are now urgently needed to prevent further decay of what is one of the most stunning domed structures in the city.

We are convinced that it is unlikely that any public sector funding will become available to fund a restoration of the site or its use as a theatre and it therefore requires an imaginative development package to facilitate restoration.

We believe that the integrated package proposed by the developers is very imaginative and will make the site viable again. We also believe that the proposed footfall arising from the proposed cinemas and restaurants will be not much different from the visiting numbers which used to occur when the site operated first as a circus then theatre and finally as a bingo hall.

We believe that the additional cinema block is well integrated and will not adversely impact on the surroundings of the site. We are very much taken by the potential for the main dome to be restored to a theatre at some time in the future should economic circumstances allow this. This potential reversibility of the changes in levels to the floor of the domed structure makes the proposal doubly attractive.

Whereas one could question the design of the proposed entrance and the new building corner Duke Street we would accept this as a small price to pay for an overwhelmingly positive proposal.

We would urge the Planning Committee to grant permission for this proposal without delay.

Hove station footbridge

The committee supports the need for access improvements to Hove station footbridge and welcomes this sketch design produced by local Architect David Kemp: Open: PDF 2013-10-13 Hove Station Footbridge