Former Homeless Hostel Can Become Seafront Flats

A derelict homeless hostel can be turned into 30 seafront flats after councillors approved a £14 million scheme in a meeting at Hove Town Hall yesterday (Wednesday 2 July).

They agreed in principle that the old St Catherine’s Lodge Hotel, at 9-12 St Catherine’s Terrace, Hove, could be converted from a 50-bed hotel into housing.

The locally listed building has been empty for more than three years – since June 2022 when the charity St Mungo’s stopped using it as a homeless hostel.

But while planning permission was granted in principle, members of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Planning Committee were once again unhappy at having to agree yet another scheme with no affordable housing.

A District Valuer Services (DVS) report supported a viability assessment by the applicant St Catherines Hove Limited, owned by Alfred Haagman, 65, David Willis, 65, and Timothy Clapham, 52.

They concluded that the scheme would not be financially viable if the developer had to provide affordable housing on the site.

Council policy is for 40 per cent of the homes in a scheme of this size to be classed as “affordable” – or 12 of the 30 flats.

Instead, the developer is likely to have to pay £240,000 – known as a commuted sum – towards the cost of the council providing low-cost homes elsewhere. The figure is subject to review.

The conversion also looks unlikely to yield a community infrastructure levy (CIL) payment.

A report to the Planning Committee said:

“Existing hotels are eligible for a CIL deduction. As no additional floorspace is being created, there is no CIL liability.”

The developer initially planned to turn the disused hotel into 36 flats but the revised plans are for 13 one-bed flats, 14 two-bedroom flats and three with three bedrooms.

The proposals also include removing extensions dating from the 1920s and 1970s.

Brighton and Hove Independent councillor Mark Earthey said that he would have to vote for the scheme on policy grounds but was not happy on moral grounds.

Councillor Earthey:

“Once again … the affordable housing formula has cranked out a number and very rapidly that number is overturned by the DVS and it turns out not to be viable at all.

“Se we’re going to end up with … nice luxury flats which the vast majority of people can’t afford to live in.

“Probably the best thing that will happen is it will be a place where people will downsize to, people like me, but that still doesn’t do our younger residents any good.”

Conservative councillor Carol Theobald was also disappointed by the lack of affordable housing, saying that the flats were described as “high standard” which would “cost a lot of money”.

Councillor Theobald said:

“It’s 30 units. That’s a lot of units. (The commuted sum) probably will only pay for one unit there.

“It’s a nice-looking building from the front but I expect it needs a lot of work inside.”

Labour councillor Julie Cattell said that the housing team would use the money towards building new council homes and buying back homes sold under the “right to buy”.

Councillor Cattell said:

“Just because it’s not enough to buy a flat or build a flat, it goes towards a fund that will eventually go towards affordable and social housing we are building or buying back.

“We’ve been very good at doing that for quite a few years now and providing more social housing out of that fund.”

Fellow Labour councillor Paul Nann was frustrated that former temporary housing for homeless people was being turned into flats “no one can afford”.

Green councillor Sue Shanks said that the developer was not offering even the price of one flat.

She said:

“There were a lot of local protests about the hostel we agreed to. Then it sounds like they gave up.

"I would have thought residents would be quite happy about this. It’s a lovely building.”

The committee voted unanimously to approve the application, subject to a detailed agreement.