Adam Trimingham is mistaken if he thinks high-rise blocks are the only way to achieve high-density building on brownfield sites in Brighton and Hove (January 2).
No more people are housed in the Albion Hill tower blocks than were previously housed in the terraced houses on the site which were demolished.
No more flats will be created in the 18-storey skyscraper on the Endeavour Motors site than would have been built in the more modest six-storey building (reduced from eight storeys) which already has permission.
The skyscraper has a car showroom on the precious ground floor, the flats are bigger and the ones at the top will have views over Preston Park. No more people will be housed, but the development will be more profitable for the developer, Karis.
The design of the Stanford Estate (the area between Preston Drove, Ditchling Road, Stanford Avenue and Preston Road, which will be overshadowed by this skyscraper) was carefully controlled by the Stanford family of Preston Manor, who owned the land, which is what makes it such a homogeneous whole. Piers Gough's design threatens to destroy the unified quality so many residents treasure.
The Jubilee Street library may rightly be called a landmark design but it is a public building. We don't need landmark buildings scattered all over the city wherever Karis finds a brownfield site.
The arrogance of the design for 1a Connaught Road is being matched by Piers Gough's designs for tower blocks on the Endeavour Motors site and in North Road.
Brighton and Hove City Council should draw up a tall buildings policy before making any decisions on these proposals, particularly as they will be flying in the face of so much opposition from residents - as they did with Connaught Road.
Preston is a marginal ward and one must assume the Labour group is prepared to lose it if it supports the Endeavour scheme.
-Selma Montford, Hon Secretary, the Brighton Society and the Preston and Old Patcham Society, Clermont Road, Brighton
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