More than 150 homes are set to be built on the former site of Shoreham Civic Centre to meet the needs of Adur residents.
This Wednesday Adur District Council approved plans to redevelop the site between Brighton Road, Eastern Avenue and Ham Road which has lain empty since 2017, subject to the signing of a legal agreement with social housing developer Hyde Housing.
A total of 159 one, two and three-bedroom homes will be built, in one six-storey building and one nine-storey building. The ground floor of both buildings will be for a range of commercial uses, such as office space, shops, a creche or a gym.
Earlier plans that featured 171 homes and a 11-storey tower were withdrawn by Hyde a few months ago after the intervention of the Leader of the Council, in response to public concerns about its height.
The reduced height of the new scheme means that it will be lower than the Free Wharf development currently under construction nearby. As well as reducing the height of the development, Hyde amended the scheme to reduce the amount of commercial floorspace, to provide additional parking spaces and to plant 25 trees to replace a mature poplar tree on the land.
The site is owned by the Council but will be sold to Hyde Housing subject to the granting of planning permission.
There is an acute shortage of affordable housing in the district so, in addition to normal planning requirements which require 30% of homes to be affordable, Hyde has agreed that every home provided will be affordable, using funding to be made available through a partnership with Homes England. This will mean that 99 properties would be shared ownership and 60 would be for social rent for Adur residents - allowing the Council to help a significant number of people on its housing waiting list into permanent homes.
Hyde has also confirmed that the shared ownership properties cannot be bought as second homes, and that it will market them to local residents.
Cllr Neil Parkin, the Leader of Adur District Council, said: “For many people in Adur, the idea of owning your own home is just a dream because of rising property prices. For those who have to stay in emergency accommodation, just knowing they have somewhere they can call home long-term is a huge relief.
“The new homes on the civic centre site will mean a better life for hundreds of local people in both of these situations, right in the heart of a vibrant community.”
