A 12-storey block of 66 affordable flats is being planned on top of a working scrap metal yard in central Brighton, and the council’s own papers show it has drawn objections as well as support. The application for Richardson’s Yard, at 53 New England Street and 10 New England Road, is from the developer QED. The comments tab on the council’s planning register shows 27 entries, and the register documents include objections from a ward councillor and from a residents’ association.
Application. BH2026/01773, an outline application.
Where. Richardson’s Yard, 53 New England Street and 10 New England Road, Brighton BN1 4GQ. West Hill and North Laine ward.
Applicant. QED Capital Assets Ltd, with Lewis and Co Planning as agent.
What. A building of up to 12 storeys with a basement, with 66 homes and 852 sq m of commercial space.
Status. Registered. No decision yet. The register lists a determination deadline of 27 October 2026.
What is planned
The 66 homes would be 30 one-bedroom, 32 two-bedroom and four three-bedroom flats. The developer describes all of them as affordable. Of the 852 sq m of commercial space, the planning statement says 464 sq m would stay with the existing metal recycling operation on the ground floor. The Building Safety Regulator says the recycling unit would be “totally separated from residential areas” with its own access. It gives the height of the topmost occupied storey as 34.875 metres.
The council’s housing team says seven of the homes would be adapted for wheelchair users, and the scheme would have three wheelchair accessible lifts.
Today the site is home to the Geo E Richardson and Sons scrap metal business and 36 former shipping containers used as short-term studio homes, run by Brighton Housing Trust. The council’s planning policy team says there is also some meanwhile commercial space.
What the council’s housing team says
Strategic Housing and Development supports the scheme as 66 affordable rented homes, but with conditions. In its reply of 9 September it says its support is “subject to all the necessary legal agreements and re-location of the current ground floor commercial / industrial operation (scrap metal recycling)”. It adds that it does not feel scrap metal recycling is a use that is consistent with housing above it.
The council’s policy asks for 40% affordable housing on a site this size, which would be 26 homes here, so the offer of 100% goes well beyond it. The details of tenure and rent levels are still to be clarified. The team also notes that the mix has fewer family homes than the council guidance asks for: 46% one-bedroom, 48% two-bedroom and 6% three-bedroom, against a guide of 20 to 25% for three-bedroom homes. It says that follows discussion with the housing team about what suits this location.
The team gives the need as 5,068 people on the joint housing register in June 2026, with more than 2,000 households in temporary or emergency accommodation.
Planning policy and the employment question
The planning policy team replied on 22 September that a high-density mixed-use scheme is broadly supported on this site, which is part of the New England Quarter and London Road development area. It welcomes the 100% affordable housing. But it says the commercial space is significantly below the 3,000 sq m of employment floorspace sought across the wider allocation, which includes the neighbouring Brewer’s paint merchant site.
On the scrap metal business, the team says the use is not specifically safeguarded and appears to be of limited strategic significance based on recent throughput figures. It says how it would sit with homes above will need careful assessment for noise, vibration and amenity, and that Environmental Health comments will be important. Its recommendation is “Approve subject to other internal consultee comments”.
Heritage and fire safety
The council’s heritage adviser, Place Services, replied on 18 September. It agrees the building is unlikely to materially affect most of the nearby heritage assets. It does have concerns about the Grade II listed railway bridge on New England Road, built in 1852 to 1854 and described as one of the earliest surviving cast iron railway bridges. It says the new building would be “unduly prominent” in the setting of the bridge, which would mean a low level of harm to its significance.
The Building Safety Regulator replied on 3 September with the headline “further information required”. It says that, because the application is in outline, there is not enough fire safety information for it to comment in full. If the council is minded to grant permission, it recommends a condition for a fire statement with any later detailed application, and that the regulator is consulted again then.
Sussex Police’s designing out crime officer had no further comments on the extra documents. Its earlier advice from 14 August stands.
The objections
A councillor objected on 27 September. They said they support affordable housing on the site in principle, but object to the application as it stands. They said that when the council approved the QED land deal in 2021, members saw a scheme of up to eight storeys, expecting the metal recycler to move out. They said the current proposal is materially different, with 12 storeys and 66 homes built directly above the retained recycler.
The councillor said the noise strategy appears to rely on residents keeping their windows closed and using mechanical ventilation, while the energy strategy says a detailed overheating assessment has not been done. They also said they could not find an affordable housing statement, a tenure schedule, a legally secured social rent commitment, a named registered provider or a draft Section 106 agreement. They asked whether the height is needed, noting that only four of the 66 homes are three-bedroom, and asked for the earlier eight-storey idea to be revisited.
The Brighton Greenway Residents’ Association filed a formal 12-page objection on 15 October asking the council to refuse the application in its present form. It says it supports redevelopment of the site in principle. It gives five grounds: harm to neighbours’ amenity, height and massing, the employment requirement for the area, homes sitting above the recycling operation, and how the site relates to the neighbouring Brewer’s proposal.
The association says the applicant’s own daylight report records 23 of 47 tested windows at 32 to 36 New England Road falling below the recommended level. It also says the council’s pre-application advice was that keeping the recycler was not essential and, if kept, would need more separation from the homes. These are the objector’s claims, and we have not seen the applicant’s reply to them.
Who decides, and when
The association’s objection says that if the application is still undecided on or after 31 October 2026, the new national scheme of delegation applies. Under it, the association says, major applications are decided by officers by default, and go to the Planning Committee only if they pass a “gateway test” agreed by a nominated officer and a nominated member. It asks for a committee site visit if the application is referred. For how that change affects councillors in Brighton and Hove, see our report, Brighton and Hove Councillors Lose Power to Call In Planning Applications.
The council has not yet published a recommendation or a decision date for this application. A neighbouring application for the Brewer’s site, BH2026/01047, is being considered separately.
What happens next
The application can be read on the council’s planning register under reference BH2026/01773. The consultation period on the register closed on 15 October for official bodies and 20 October for neighbours, though comments continue to appear on the register. We will report any decision when the council publishes it.
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