Changes to Sackville Tower scheme

A revised plan for a 17-storey tower at Sackville Gardens will be handed to Brighton and Hove City Council, after it branded Hyde's application as invalid.

The council said some of the scale bars on the hard copies of the plan were not to scale, and said a number of checklists were missing.

Andy Parsons, of architect firm Yelo, said: 'They made the application invalid, which isn't that unusual these days. The plans were printed as scale-to-fit rather than-to-scale.'

Hyde, the developer, said the issues had been addressed, and the plan would be handed back to the council, with a number of changes. There is no change to the height of the buildings.

Mr Parsons, said: 'We want a scheme that people like, and were asked to look at how we could improve this scheme, so we did.'

Tom Shaw, development director (south) for Hyde, said: 'We have listened and acted on the feedback from local residents and councillors. Accordingly, following the recent consultation, a number of changes have been made to the proposed development at the former Sackville Hotel.

'These include a reduction in the number of homes to 98, a redesigned '˜plinth' building so it is now lower, and in line with the neighbouring homes, and an amended ground floor layout to relocate the proposed refuse store away from existing neighbours.

'Hyde is committed to continuing to work closely with the local planning authority and other stakeholders to meet local housing need, help deliver local economic growth and to regenerate a prominent site on the Hove seafront which has sat derelict for a decade.'

The plans for the corner of Sackville Gardens and Kingsway, have seen opposition from local residents, and SaveHOVE campaigner Valerie Paynter, said: 'The fact is 17 storeys is never going to fly. '

She said the council's own guidance says Kingsway could be developed with mid-rise buildings, which is defined as six to eight storeys.

Ms Paynter said: 'I am going to fight to the death to prevent Hove from turning into Benidorm.'