Durrington block of flats next to converted office block Columbia House is approved

The new building would be between five to seven storeys high situated next to Columbia House, a former office block being converted into housing.

The scheme also includes outdoor play space, extra bike storage and new tree planting between Romany Road and the new development, with 20 per cent affordable housing within the block.

It will be located on a car park previously used by Columbia House when it was still an office block, facing a predominantly residential area and backing on to a commercial/industrial estate.

The main concern for members and planning officers was affordable housing, since no provision for it had been made in Columbia House as it was not a newly erected development – so £300,000 is required from the developer to contribute to affordable housing elsewhere.

Sophie Cox (Lab, Castle Ward), Samuel Theodoridi (Lab, Castle Ward) and Helen Abrahams (Lab, Heene Ward) also raised concerns over the trees and the outdoor play areas, stating that plans including fully grown trees in the images were misleading, and that a play area so close to the road, and specifically for this block of flats, seemed unnecessary.

Planning officers said that trees could be bought at a more representative size to the design images shown, and that the amount of potential families in 78 flats, as well as existing Columbia House, justified putting a play area here instead of asking for money from the developer to build one elsewhere in Worthing.

Odul Bozkurt (Lab, Central Ward) said she was concerned with the proportion of one bed flats in the development, saying that this would create issues with long term retention of new owners and residents, as well as building a community in Worthing.

An agent on behalf of this development and Columbia House owner, Nigel Brook, said that 75 per cent of the buyers were first time, and 80 per cent were existing residents of Worthing.

Mr Brook said that “demand was overwhelming” for their one bed flats, and people were “fighting over them” and mostly looking elsewhere when there were none left.

To view details of the plans visit https://planning.adur-worthing.gov.uk/online-applications/ with the reference code AWDM/0711/22.