Anger at plan to build 24 flats

10:11am Monday 1st December 2008

Comments (11)   Have your say »

Residents took to the street this weekend to protest against plans to construct a seven-storey building.

About 50 people from the Highcroft Villas area of Brighton attended a demonstration on Saturday to show their opposition to a plan to build flats on nearby green land.

In January, Brighton and Hove City Council’s planning committee refused Kingsbury Estates’ plans for 24 flats in Highcroft Villas.

The proposed site was previously used for allotments and has never been built on because it has a chalk escarpment, which is home to badgers and protected slow worms.

But the developers appealed to the planning inspectorate and now a public appeal will be held on December 9.

Labour councillor Kevin Allen attended the march. He said: “Both the council and members of the community have said no consistently and still these people don’t get the message.

“What they are proposing is totally over the top for the area and we will continue to fight them.”

Many residents and nature enthusiasts are objecting to the building on the grounds that it will reduce the variation of wildlife in the area and bring more traffic to an already congested part of the city.

Angela Kensett, 51, who lives opposite the proposed site, said: “For 32 years we have watched the seasons come and go along the Preston Valley but if they go ahead with this building, that will be lost forever.”

The Prestonville Community Association organised the demonstration.

Member Debbie Marsh, 52, said: “We organised the protest to gather support for the public appeal. The council has backed us in this and we want to show support.

“We’ve protested against building on this land for ten years, but they keep coming back with new plans."

What do you think of the plan to build new flats? Tell us below.