Family homes to be freed up after new student halls are approved

It is hoped a large number of family homes will be freed up in Brighton and Hove after a plan to extend a new halls of residence at the University of Sussex was approved.

The council’s planning committee approved a plan to build three blocks providing 180 rooms of accommodation at the University’s Northfield site near Falmer.

There is already some 800 units being built at the site, which is on the fringes of the South Downs National Park, after the development was approved in 2009.

The development site overlaps the new national park, but crucially no buildings are being built within the borders.

The three-storey blocks are to have earthy coloured walls and green roofs to help them blend into the surroundings, while as a condition of the development the university will be following an eco-plan which will include surrounding grassland, native species of woodland and scrub, a wet meadow and bat boxes.

New chair of the planning committee Cllr Phelim MacCafferty said: “The universities and students bring huge benefits to the city in terms of skills, jobs and cultural assets.

“However, we do need to find somewhere for students to live. Rooms in halls of residence free up family homes for other residents.

“So this development will be a valuable asset to the city while causing little detriment to the National Park.”

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Posted by Joseph Lewis on June 10, 2011. Filed under Falmer,Featured,Sussex University. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry