Plans to keep an extension to an arms factory have been recommended for approval.
A report published by Brighton and Hove City Council recommended that a temporary extension should be made permanent.
The recommendation comes after hundreds of objections to the plans over the factory’s supply of bomb racks for fighter jets used in the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The planning committee report said: “A large number of the objections to the application relate to the ethics of producing weaponry on the site.
“Whether activities are seen as unethical or immoral is not, in itself a planning issue, and the use of any weapons and other items produced is strictly controlled through other regulation, including which entities have access to them and whether the operator has or should have an export licence.
“Any increased impact resulting from allowing the extension to remain permanently is therefore considered to be minimal, and not so substantial as to warrant refusal of the application.”
More than 600 objections were lodged to the extension at the L3Harris factory in Home Farm Business Park, Moulsecoomb in Brighton.
Politicians including Brighton MPs Caroline Lucas, Lloyd Russell-Moyle and city councillors were among those objecting to the proposals.
Two comments in support of the application were received, including from Conservative Cllr Ivan Lyon.
Bomb racks made at the factory are used in creating F-35 fighter jets made in the United States.
These fighter jets are then sold to Israel through the US Government’s Foreign Military Sales Process. Social media posts from the Israeli Defence Force suggest f-35 planes are being used in the Israel-Gaza conflict.
A rally held at the factory on Saturday called for the planning application to be dismissed.
The application was due to go before a planning committee next week but this has since been delayed until April.
A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said: “We have a legal duty to consider in a fair and transparent manner all planning applications that are submitted to us.
“We take into account national and local planning policies and planning law when doing so.
“We have to follow due process and cannot comment on live planning applications while they are being considered.”
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