Simon Kirby, the Member of Parliament for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, met with SAFE (St Aubyns Field Evergeen) on Friday to discuss the proposed development at St Aubyns in Rottingdean.
There are 3 planning applications submitted to Brighton & Hove City Council which are currently ‘under consideration.’
Simon said, “I have been contacted by many concerned residents about the proposed development and have already objected to the three planning applications. I believe the City Council should be actively looking at brownfield and city centre sites and larger areas that could be developed, such as Shoreham Harbour, in order to meet the city’s housing demand long before looking at greenfield sites.”
The A259 Coast Road and Rottingdean High Street are already extremely congested at peak times of the day and a large number of additional properties and their associated cars will generate even more traffic. This will also create more pollution which will reduce air quality for residents. Air quality is already compromised in the Rottingdean High Street area.
There are concerns about the provision of school places and GP places locally which are already under considerable pressure and there is concern that the sewage and drainage infrastructure will not be sufficient to cope with the many additional residential properties that will be built if this application is approved.
In addition, the application is for a large number of properties in a relatively small area and so will be very high density. This would be likely to negatively affect the present character of Rottingdean village.
Another concern is the partial loss of the old school playing field at St Aubyns as part of this proposed development. Many local people feel that it is inappropriate that a precious green space in the village should be lost in order that more buildings can be constructed.
Simon said, “I would encourage local residents to make their views known to the council about this important matter.”