Hundreds of Adur garages to be demolished for affordable homes

At a meeting of the full council on Thursday (October 29), councillors approved the project and the use of £15.9m to deliver the homes.

The cost will be made up of a £2.24m grant from Homes England and prudential borrowing of £13.695m.

With around 700 people on the council’s housing waiting list, the need for more rented accommodation has long been clear and a public consultation was held into redeveloping 11 possible sites.

The 295 garages involved are deemed to be of poor condition and too small for some cars, with many being used for storage.

The blocks are in Daniel Close, Lancing, which will take nine homes; Gravelly Crescent, Lancing (seven homes); Gardner Road, Fishergate (seven homes); Wilmot Road, Shoreham-by-Sea (six homes); Downsway, Southwick (12 homes); Sylvan Road, Sompting (seven homes); Leconfield Road, Lancing (two homes); St Giles Close, Shoreham (four homes); and at 60 Brighton Road, Shoreham (two homes).

While councillors fully supported the scheme, questions were asked about why the rents would be affordable and not social – the first being higher than the second.

Carson Albury, executive member for customer services, explained that the scheme would not have been viable if social rents were charged.

He said: “I would have loved for them to be social rents – that was how I intended the scheme to go through originally – but it was either affordable rents or nothing at all.”

Planning applications for the new homes are expected to be submitted by the end of the year, with work on the sites scheduled to start in summer 2021 and be finished by the winter.