The council’s new cabinet is going to consider approving a plan to spend about £30 million on more than 180 flats on one site. The plan, for 300 flats in all, would involve working with the Hyde Group housing association which would take just over 120 of the flats for shared ownership at the northern end of the old Sackville Trading Estate in Hove. If the cabinet approves the plan at its first meeting next week, Hyde is expected to apply to a government agency, Homes England, for a grant towards the cost of the scheme.
The grant would enable Brighton and Hove City Council to keep its share of the costs low enough to charge tenants a “social rent” so that the flats might be truly affordable. In all, the council and Hyde hope to build 306 flats through their joint venture known as Homes for Brighton and Hove. Hyde would purchase the site which is next to the Moda complex, in Sackville Road, north of the railway.
Moda is nearing completion on a £160 million scheme to build almost 600 flats. The developer has planning permission to build 260 “extra care” flats to the north but is not now expected to go ahead with those plans. Instead, Hyde would have to submit a fresh planning application for the new scheme, with the housing association looking to take 123 of the proposed flats while the council would have 183.
Most of the flats would have two bedrooms, with several one-bed flats as part of the mix, while a smaller number would have three bedrooms, according to a repo.
