Up to 22 council homes proposed for the old riding school off Bear Road

Brighton & Hove City Council is proposing between 18 and 22 council homes on the land of a former riding school that is now used as a scaffold yard. The site would be reached by a track off the top of Bear Road.

The council is holding a follow-up drop-in at The Edge Community Centre on Wednesday 28 October, from 4pm to 7pm, where people can view the proposals. The architects and council officers will be there to answer questions.

The first drop-in was at the same centre on Friday 24 July. A survey on the plans was open until Monday 3 August.

The site is big enough for larger homes, which the council says is not possible on many of its other sites. The mix would be two, three and four-bedroom homes, some of them adapted for wheelchair users. The council describes a low-density scheme with shared public space, designed with the South Downs next door in mind.

Vehicles would come in and out on that track, which is gravel now. There would be pedestrian access through the site and on to the South Downs. The plans allow one parking space per home plus visitor spaces, 1.26 per home in all.

Ecologists are working with the design team. The council says it is maximising the space for green roofs, native plants and hedgerows, and is likely to exceed the biodiversity the site needs. Street lights would point down to cut light spill.

The homes would be let through Homemove to people on the housing register, like other affordable rented homes in the city. Around 5,000 households are on the register. The council’s New Homes for Neighbourhoods programme has built 269 homes on 14 sites and has planning approval for 264 more.

The council has written to 230 homes near the site. Its timeline has the design team preparing a planning application until 1 December, then a planning period running into February 2027. If planning approval is given, the council will run a full tender to appoint a contractor. It expects the development to be completed late in 2028.