A DEVELOPER has said he will appeal after his ninth application to demolish and redevelop a historic bath house was rejected by council officers.

Sirus Taghan has suffered another setback in his 16-year battle to demolish Medina House on Hove seafront and develop it into flats.

The rejection by council officers this week has been welcomed by conservation campaigner Valerie Paynter, who described the latest designs as “copper shipping containers mounted on a plinth”.

Mr Taghan had proposed a three and four-storey development of eight two-bedroom flats for the site in King’s Esplanade.

However, Brighton and Hove City Council officers said the demolition of the building would cause “substantial harm” to the Cliftonville Conservation Area.

Mr Taghan rejected their suggestions that he had failed to demonstrate the current site was “beyond economic repair” by claiming extensive reports had established it would take a minimum of £1 million to maintain the Victorian building.

Mr Taghan said he was disappointed the decision had been taken by planning officers rather than democratically-elected councillors on the planning committee.

He added: “At the moment it is a big loss-making project for me over 15 years and in that time 99% of the architects have told me to write-off retaining the existing building.

“I am not really considering selling the site, I want to do something with the site. I even had hopes of living here myself.

“I have had offers from members of the public and from companies if I had wanted to sell it.”

Ms Paynter, from the SaveHove group, said: “He has put in planning application after planning application which have no chance of being granted.

“The council could make money out of the site.

“If they had a compulsory purchase order [CPO] they could buy the site for its basic value of under £400,000 and there would be people out there willing to buy it and use the current building for commercial purposes.”

A council spokeswoman said: “There are no plans to seek a compulsory purchase order on Medina House.

“The owners have been given a significant amount of guidance about future development and our aim is to continue to work with the owners to look for opportunities for the improvement of the site.”

CPO e-petition
A PETITION is calling on Brighton and Hove City Council to compulsory purchase the site.
The campaign be discussed at this month’s policy and resources committee.
To sign the CPO e-petition, visit tinyurl.com/MedinaHouse