New Flats Planned For Adur Civic Centre Site

Plans have been submitted to build 171 flats at the former Adur Civic Centre site.

The Civic Centre was demolished in 2017 and the vacant site at Ham Road, Shoreham, is currently being used as a car park by staff at the nearby Focus Group offices.

Developer The Hyde Group hopes to build two blocks of flats which would range in height from three to eleven storeys.

A total of 71 one-bed flats, 83 two-bed flats, and 17 three-bed flats are planned and The Hyde Group hopes to make at least 30 per cent of these affordable. If permission is granted, the developer aims to make 100 per cent of housing on the site affordable.

The blocks would form a communal open space and courtyard garden with play equipment.

Employment

It is hoped that planned office space on the ground floor could create 77 jobs.

The Hyde Group said this could ‘provide high quality employment floorspace in the town centre’ in addition to 46 construction jobs.

Sustainable Development

A total of 56 parking spaces are planned for the site which the developer says is ‘in an excellent town centre location’ with ‘ample public transport links’.

Residents would be able to make use of a ‘car club’ service and could be provided with travel vouchers to minimise the number of cars needed. Around 220 cycle parking spaces are also planned with land set aside for a new cycle path along Eastern Avenue and Ham Road.

Solar panels and electric heaters would provide energy to the buildings which could be ‘easily connected’ to the planned district heat network in the future.

Developers acknowledge that the new flats would be in ‘close proximity’ to nearby Mercury House and the Duke of Wellington pub but said they would be ‘carefully positioned’ and mitigation measures would be put in place to minimise impact.

Objections

Eight formal objections have been received by Adur District Council on issues ranging from parking and loss of privacy, to over-development and the design of the proposed blocks.

One Gordon Road resident said that an 11-storey building could see neighbours lose their privacy.

They said:

“Myself and my neighbours have already lost a lot of privacy due to the Focus office block and that is only four storeys.

“We no longer feel comfortable sitting in the garden during the day and we
have to keep curtains and blinds closed.”

Several Gordon Road residents said that the planned parking spaces would be ‘inadequate’.

One said:

“Generally, there is totally inadequate parking allocated that will result in existing car owners in the neighbourhood streets vying for limited parking spaces – the traffic build up along the A259 is already unacceptable.”

The Hyde Group said it consulted with council officers, delivered 120 leaflets to residents and organised a public event in March last year.

Housing Prices and Shortfall

The Adur Local Plan requires 1,538 new homes within the built up area of Adur by 2032 and the developer says the new flats would help to address the current shortfall.

The council does not have enough land for housing for the next five years and former industrial and commercial sites are now being explored for development. This is crucial if the council wishes to achieve its housing targets.

Additionally, The Adur and Worthing Housing Matters Strategy says local people are less able to afford to live in the area due to a 49 per cent increase in house prices in the last five years.

More information about this application can be found at the Adur and Worthing planning portal website using the reference: AWDM/1450/21.