An £87 million scheme to build more than 200 new council homes is due to go before councillors for a decision this week.
Brighton and Hove City Council wants to scrap Moulsecoomb Hub North, in Hodshrove Lane, to provide 212 affordable homes, sports pitches, a skate park, public open spaces and community buildings.
The eight-acre site to the east of Lewes Road currently includes the empty Moulsecoomb hub, which used to be a base for social workers.
It also includes the Hillview Contact Centre, the 67 Centre, a boxing club, a children’s centre, a playing field and a multi-use games area. The boxing club and children’s centre are expected to be retained at the site.
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The council worked up its plans to revamp the site, off Hodshrove Road and Hodshrove Lane, over the past seven years.
A planning application is due to go before the council’s planning committee on Wednesday and councillors are asked to support it.
The proposed buildings include blocks of flats up to eight storeys high and a row of eight semi-detached houses. Some 15 homes will be wheelchair accessible.
The scheme includes a neighbourhood hub containing a library, doctors’ surgery, pharmacy, community café, youth centre, adult learning area and community meeting space.
Neighbours have sent nine objections to the application, raising concerns about the impact on wildlife, overdevelopment and the “ugly blocks”.
One objector, whose details have been redacted by the council, said: “We have so much wildlife, hedgehogs, squirrels, bats, birds, not to mention our own pets that will be terrified and probably killed or die through lack of habitat.
“This is totally the wrong place for such a huge, ugly project and will have a massive impact on the neighbouring area, but who cares? It’s only Moulsecoomb residents after all.”
Another objector, whose details were also redacted by the council, said: “Moulsecoomb already struggles to meet 20-minute neighbourhood criterion and these plans show a lack of imagination and ambition.
“A supermarket, entertainment, parks, office space or cinema should have been included in such a huge development.
“Instead, green space has been destroyed when it should have been increased to accommodate the new housing. There are no new cycle routes which, in my strong opinion, is a huge oversight.”
The council said that the plans would provide “significant” benefit to the area and to the wider city.
It added: “The proposal has been carefully designed to ensure that the proposal creates an attractive and functional environment for residents and visitors. This is in terms of the massing, scale and design as well as the public realm.”
The planning committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 2pm on Wednesday.
The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
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