Conversion of Eastbourne home into 8-bedroom HMO refused

The proposal would have seen the conversion of 7 Redoubt Road into the eight-bedroom HMO, which would have included a top floor studio flat and a ‘separate, self-contained, market-housing one-bedroom flat’ by converting the existing ground floor integral garage and re-configuring adjoining rooms at the property.

The applicant said the proposal would ‘make a valuable contribution to the needs of Eastbourne's housing market for such types of residential accommodation’. It was refused by planning officers for a number of reasons, including increased noise and insufficient access to natural daylight.

Nine objections were also written into Eastbourne Borough Council’s planning portal, with many stating that the proposal would be ‘detrimental to the character and nature of the Redoubt area.’

The officers statement of refusal read: “The proposal would, by reason of the increase in occupancy, result in increased activity to a degree that would result in undue noise and general disturbance to neighbouring occupants and an unacceptable impact upon neighbour amenity, contrary to the requirements of policy.

“The proposed basement communal kitchen and dining room would, by reason of insufficient access to natural daylight and poor outlook, result in substandard accommodation and residential amenity for future occupiers.

"The proposed studio flat would, by reason of the Gross Internal Area would fail to meet the minimum internal space standard of at least 37sqm for a one-storey one-bed one person flat defined by the ‘Technical housing standards - nationally described space standards’, adopted March 2015 and thus would result in substandard quality of accommodation for future.

“The proposal fails to provide sufficient information to adequately demonstrate that cycle storage facilities could be provided within the site to ensure that the travel demands to promote sustainable methods of transport.

“The proposal fails to demonstrate that adequate refuse/recycling storage facilities would be provided within the site to meet the demand created by the development in contravention with Eastbourne’s saved Borough Plan Policies.