A DERELICT factory site may finally be turned into nearly 150 homes.

The Parker Pen factory stood on the site off Railway Road in Newhaven from 1941 until it closed in 2010 and was demolished in 2014.

Landowner Newhaven Eastside LLP was granted outline planning permission in 2015 for 105 houses, 43 flats, a 200-seat community centre, a recreation ground and a nursery and playgroup, but nothing was built.

Now social housing provider Stonewater wants to redevelop the former factory site with 145 affordable homes, from one-bedroom flats to four-bedroom houses, a play area and public open space.

The plans will be exhibited to the public at Meeching Hall in Fort Road, Newhaven, on Thursday next week between 3.30pm and 7.30pm.

Newhaven town councillor and chairman of the planning committee Steve Saunders said: “I wasn’t in favour of the previous proposals as I wanted to see a commercial development.

“But it’s difficult not to be in favour of something happening to the site now, because it has been derelict for a while and the tipping of waste has caused problems for the flora and fauna there.

“I would like to see a development which encompasses plenty of open space, recreational areas for new and existing residents.

“I’d also like to see affordable housing with environmental enhancements such as ground source heat pumps and solar panels.”

Newhaven town councillor and Lewes district councillor Simon Barnes said: “When a representative from Stonewater called to invite me to the exhibition, I asked him what proportion of affordable housing there would be.

“He couldn’t give me an exact figure but he did say it would be a high proportion.

“I intend to ask that question again next Thursday because affordable housing is very important to the people of Newhaven.

“A lot of people I work with are in rented accommodation, it is not a high earning area.

“I will go with an open mind, as I’d rather see houses built on a brownfield site than a greenfield site even though the place now looks like a meadow, as if no factory was ever there.

“The only issue is that the road system is chronic in Newhaven.”

A spokesman for Stonewater said: “Our proposals build upon the existing planning permission, but with a bigger focus on affordable housing, including shared ownership and rent-to-buy homes.

“Stonewater’s mission is to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to have a place that they can call home, and we hope that this development will go some way to achieving that.”