THE FIRST phase of a £500 million expansion of the University of Sussex to accommodate 5,000 more students has been given the green light.

Brighton and Hove City Council planning committee members said they been won over by improvements to the scheme two years after initially rejecting it.

Consent has been granted to allow for 2,100 new student flats on the university’s Falmer campus and a new Student Union as part of an initial £120 million development.

Councillors said they hoped the development would ease pressure on family housing in the city.

But one committee member said it might only delay problems by a year before students move into the city in later years of study.

University bosses welcomed the news and hope building work will begin early next year.

The first phase of the university's masterplan will see 1,868 new student rooms built in cluster flats and townhouses on the East Slope of the campus.

It include a new six-storey bar and venue, shops and 249 flats which will see the Student Union move out of the grade I listed Falmer House designed by Sir Basil Spence as the communal heart of the campus.

The plans will see the creation of a new “spine” road for vehicles allowing the current Refectory Road to be pedestrianised.

The East Slope development will mean a drop from 307 parking spaces to 167 but additional spaces in a proposed multi-storey car park is planned later in the campus’ development.

Green councillor Leo Littman said: “When the outline plan came before us, I didn’t like it and I voted against it, but what is in front of us now I like.

“It looks like part of Sussex University.”

Conservative councillor Lynda Hyde said: “We all know the issue with students taking more family homes. I hope this will help to alleviate some of that.”

Cllr Michael Inkpin-Leissner, of neighbouring Hollingdean and Stanmer ward, said: “I doubt and disagree that it will have a positive effect on the HMO situation, it will just delay it for a year or two.”

He also questioned whether bus services could cope with the increased number of students.

FROM REJECTION TO WORKING ON FIRST STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT

What does the university want to do?

The University of Sussex first revealed plans to expand to take on 5,000 more students in November 2013. The £500 million project was designed to accommodate a student population rising by nearly a third to 18,000 by 2018. It followed a government announcement to lift the cap restricting student numbers from 2015-16.

How were those plans received?

Initially not completely favourably.

An outline planning application for more than 4,000 student rooms and 60,000 sqm of new teaching space was rejected in June 2014.

Committee members were concerned about the loss of trees, the development’s impact on the surrounding countryside and more students living in city housing.

What happened next?

The university appealed the decision.

It went before an eight-day planning inquiry in July last year with the planning inspector later overturning the council decision.

Councillors warned the legal battle would sour relations between the council and the university.

Are they friends now?

They seem to be.

A year of work between the university and council officers on detailed plans for the first stage of the development has improved relations.

As outline planning was granted on appeal, councillors yesterday weighed up landscaping, layout and appearance of 1,800 new student rooms rather than whether the city can house thousands more students.

Full planning consent was needed for the new student union building because it is higher than granted in outline planning and originally designed for student housing.