Revisions made to unpopular development of Eastbourne homes in place of garages

On Monday (May 30), Eastbourne Borough Council’s planning committee is set to consider an application to demolish a block of garages in Broomfield Street and build seven houses in its place.

While accessed from Broomfield Street, the site itself is bounded by houses on all four sides on Dillingburgh Road, Longland Road and Northiam Road as well.

The application follows on from a similar scheme gaining planning permission last year. The new proposals are largely the same, but would see an existing building in Broomfield Street retained rather than being replaced by a new build.

This change has resulted in a significant reworking of the main site’s access, although officers say these have been found to be acceptable.

This view is not shared by many of the scheme’s objectors, however, who argue the site access proposed is inadequate. Individual objections have been received from 28 people, while 102 have signed a petition against the proposals.

Many of the objectors have also reiterated their concerns about the site as a whole, including impact on traffic from new housing and loss of privacy. Several objectors argue these concerns were not properly considered when the earlier scheme was granted planning permission in May 2021.

As with the previous proposals, the application is an outline scheme, meaning that parts of the application would require further planning permission in future. Despite this, officers say the applicant has provided details of the design and site layout, noting only landscaping as a reserved matter.