Former court in Haywards Heath could become 28 flats

A former office building ‘falling into a state of disrepair’ could become 28 flats if plans get approved by the council.
Milton House, Milton Road, Haywards Heath. Pic Steve Robards SUS-150501-132605001Milton House, Milton Road, Haywards Heath. Pic Steve Robards SUS-150501-132605001
Milton House, Milton Road, Haywards Heath. Pic Steve Robards SUS-150501-132605001

A planning application to develop Milton House, a three-storey office building in Milton Road, Haywards Heath, has been submitted to Mid Sussex District Council.

The building has been empty for more than two years after it was used as a county court and office space.

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The developers – a family business – live in the area and presented their plans to Haywards Heath Town Council in December.

They plan to build an extra storey to the building and extend it over the car park which is currently used as a car wash.

A spokesman for developers Milton House Ltd said: “We have worked hard to take on board comments from the local community. We have actually made significant alterations to the scheme as a result of that feed back.

“We think it is an obvious site for our vision.

“We would have a long standing interest in the building itself.”

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The plans include nine, one bed flats and 19, two bed apartments with 22 off street car parking spaces.

A planning statement submitted to the district council states: “In this case the development will return a redundant building to a positive use, which would otherwise be likely to remain vacant for the foreseeable future, and in so doing support the provision of much needed housing.”

Milton House Ltd is pledging more than £100,000 to the community as part of the development, including £19,688 to Dolphin Leisure Centre and £10,618 to make improvements to community buildings in Haywards Heath.

The developers are not including affordable housing as they believe this will make the scheme ‘unviable’.

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However the proposed development will provide ‘a number of small open market apartments which, whilst not subsidised or low cost, will still offer housing at the lower end of the affordability scale in Haywards Heath’.