A brightly-coloured accommodation block for more than 200 university students has been given the go-ahead despite concerns about the size of the development.

Brighton and Hove City Council’s planning committee this afternoon have voted eight to four in favour of plans to build blocks of flats up to six storeys high on a site off Hollingdean Road, Brighton.

The proposal will also see eight apartments available for social rent.

The project will see the demolition of buildings on the site which includes printing firm One Digital as well as vacant and derelict industrial and retail buildings.

Council officers told the meeting that the site was not viable for employment uses anymore and that early discussions over a possible mixed use site proved problematic around access and modern business accommodation with a nine-storey solution dismissed.

It is expected that students from the University of Brighton would move into the flats once they were built.

Green councillor Ian Davey praised the application as a “boost” for the Lewes Road with the moving of buildings away from the road improving air quality while almost £500,000 of s106 money would bring much-needed improvements to the local area.

Conservative councillor Graham Cox also backed the scheme saying the council needed to be “forward looking” and support the city’s two “world class universities”.

But fellow Tory Lynda Hyde described the scheme as “too much” with the tallest building towering three storeys above Hollingdean Road bridge.

She also questioned claims by developers that there would be no need for displacement parking for students owning cars and that purpose-built student accommodation would free up nearby HMOs to return to family housing.