“Red tape” preventing office space being turned into homes will be lifted after council chiefs’ attempts to stop it were rejected by the Government.

From May 30, new national legislation will make it easier for developers to convert work space.

But, believing it would have a “detrimental effect on the city’s business growth”, Brighton and Hove City Council applied to exempt its city centre and 15 other key sites from the changes.

The plea has been ignored by the Government, leaving city leaders claiming it would mean there was no suitable space for growing firms.

Deputy council leader Phelim MacCafferty said: “We are bitterly disappointed.

“The council understands only too well the need for housing as well as anyone in Government, but it is equally vital that we are able to sustain the economic regeneration of our city.”

The local authority was one of a number of councils across the country that applied for exemption.

However, despite Brighton and Hove being one of the fastest growing economies in the region, only 17 local authorities were able to retain full planning rights.

Eleven of these were in London with others spread across the south of England.

Paul Burgess, of Brighton-based planning experts Lewis and Co, said: “This is presumably due to the amount of empty office floor space in the city and the substantial housing shortage.

“Removal of this red tape will mean that many property owners in the city will be delighted that empty properties can now be brought back into use.”

It comes as the council is awaiting sign off from the Government on the City Plan, which will guide development in the area until 2030.

This document said there is a need to balance demand for more than 100,000sqm of additional office space with the need for 19,000 new homes.

Tony Mernagh, of Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, said: “Because of the constraints of our geography, the plan can’t fulfil either but the task is made more complicated by not knowing if existing employment space can be converted to homes at the unregulated impulse of a property owner.

“The City Plan is definitely weakened by this development and the job of the planners and the council just got harder.”