LUXURY flats will be built on the site of a former seafront hotel which has been vacant for more than a decade.

Brighton and Hove City Council planning committee yesterday finally approved plans for an eight-storey block of 60 homes where the Sackville Hotel once stood in Kingsway, Hove.

Ten of the units will be affordable – five affordable rented units and five shared-ownership units – fewer than the council’s target of 40 per cent but an improvement on the proposal which came before the committee in September.

Then, councillors were unhappy with the application, agreed after discussion between developers Hyde and council valuation experts, which said just five of the units should be affordable lets.

Officers have used the time to go back to the District Valuer Service to re-examine evidence presented by Hyde in support of its claim the site could not support the council’s target figure of 40 per cent affordable homes.

Yesterday Councillor Carol Theobald (Con) said: “I’m very pleased to have an extra five shared ownership units.”

Councillor Clare Moonan (Lab) said allowing for the limited room to manoeuvre due to the high property value meant they were “probably at the best place” they could be.

The building will be eight storeys high at its main south-facing side looking over Kingsway and five at the eastern end facing Sackville Gardens.

The 60 homes include 12 studio apartments, 28 one-bedroom units, 19 two-beds and one three-bedroom home. It will be built of cream-coloured brick with bronze detailing to the balconies and screens.

The application includes a significant “Section 106” stipulation for the developers to contribute more than £200,000 for public amenities.

This includes £60,000 towards school place provision, £130,000 towards recreation projects in nearby Western Lawns and £60,000 towards bus stop improvements including accessible kerbs and real-time information boards.

Plans for the site have run into trouble repeatedly since the hotel was demolished in 2006.

A 2015 proposal for an octagonal 17-storey tower was ridiculed as the “Sackville Sausage” but Hyde brought residents into consultation on the latest plans.

A Hyde spokesman said: “We are pleased the development has been approved and welcome the support for the quality of the design, which will enhance and improve the Sackville Gardens Conservation area of Hove.”