Loud protests as Hove synagogue development with 45 homes approved

Angry neighbours yelled at councillors and consultants as planners discussed – and approved – a scheme for 45 new homes and a synagogue in Hove.

They shouted from the public gallery as members of the planning applicant’s team answered questions from members of Brighton and Hove City Council’s planning committee at Hove Town Hall.

The noise started early in the meeting over speaking time for objectors.

One neighbour asked for extra time to speak after his fellow objectors. But his request was refused because the council’s rules allow three minutes for each side – objectors and supporters – to put their case.

Models of the New Church Road synagogue redevelopment from the May 2018 consultation

People living near the synagogue in New Church Road, Hove, protested outside the town hall before heading inside where members of the Jewish community were also present to hear the plans debated.

Brighton and Hove Hebrew Community applied to replace its existing synagogue, community hall, nursery, co-working space, school rooms, underground car park and rabbi’s house with a new complex.

The plans include 35 flats and 10 town houses at the back of the plot, in four, five and six-storey blocks.

A privacy screen and obscured glass will be fitted to make sure people moving into the flats cannot look into the grounds of the neighbouring St Christopher’s School.

The new synagogue would be a single-storey but double-height building at the back of the plot.

Currently the site includes two villas housing the Rabbi and nursery, plus the synagogue at the rear.

Planning consultant Ian Coomber, representing neighbour Julia Besser, who lives in Pembroke Gardens, said that she would lose 35 per cent of her light.

He said: “Is this acceptable? The sense of enclosure and loss of privacy is made worse by the loss of trees.”

When asked for details about the impact of the loss of light, Mr Coomber said: “BRE guidelines say the impact of 35 per cent loss of sunlight is considerably significant.

“If that is acceptable then it is acceptable in other developments across Brighton and Hove.”

Neighbour Paul Spirou reminded the planning committee that there were more than 700 objections to the ‘draconian development’.