A disused refrigerator factory is to be demolished and replaced with a four-storey block of affordable housing.

Brighton and Hove City Council has approved plans to knock the down the former Toomeys building in Roedale Road, Brighton, and build a new development of 21 flats and houses, all of which would be managed by Southern Housing Group.

The factory, which scaled down its operations in 2004 and shut last July, had been marketed on the city council's website for four months and viewed by more than 20 businesses but no potential buyers had been found.

A planning report said refurbishing the factory, used as a laundry in the Fifties, could cost almost £1 million and the site was no longer suitable for industrial use.

Councillors agreed the plans on Wednesday on the condition a car club is set up and membership for two people from each of the flats or houses is paid for two years. They also said developers should put £92,000 towards the provision of school places in the city and a further £40,000 should be spent providing an outdoor recreation space.

The development will be split into a two-storey block of seven three and four-bedroom units and a four-storey block of seven one and two-bedroom flats. Each will have its own balcony, terrace or garden and space for recycling boxes. Two disabled parking spaces and 28 cycle spaces will be built.

Neighbours raised fears over parking. Others said the proposed design would not fit in with the Victorian architecture of surrounding properties.

Councillor Les Hamilton, chairman of the planning committee, said: "This development makes maximum use of the site, will provide some much needed affordable housing for the city and offers a good mix of one to four bedroom homes.

Friday, April 28, 2006