Plans to sell farm set to become Royal Mail depot to go before councillors | News

There’s been widespread objections for the project in Patcham

Proposals to sell Patcham Court Farm on a long lease are due to go before Brighton and Hove city councillors next month.

The forward plan for the authority’s cabinet lists “disposal of Patcham Court Farm” as an item for the November meeting.

Last month, the Royal Mail was granted planning permission, subject to conditions, to demolish the existing farm buildings, in Vale Avenue.

In their place, it has permission to build a distribution centre with “associated access, parking, landscaping and infrastructure”.

Almost 1,200 individual objections were sent to the council but the Planning Committee approved the proposal.

Campaigners asked for the application to be “called in” for a decision by the Secretary of State but their request was turned down.

When the Greens were running the council in July 2022, they proposed the sale of a long lease to the Royal Mail but opposition Labour and Conservative councillors objected.

Financial details of the proposed lease are unlikely to be made public before a deal is agreed and the council has listed the item as “exempt” from disclosure in the latest forward plan.

Conservative leader Alistair McNair noted that the council had previously said that it expected “capital receipts” totalling almost £9 million from a number of deals.

These included the Patcham Court Farm deal, property in King’s Road and Montague Place and land transfers to the housing department.

The Royal Mail’s move to Patcham would free up two existing sites for hundreds of homes – in North Road, Brighton, and Denmark Villas, Hove.

Patcham Court Farm fell into disuse about 30 years ago after it was cut off from neighbouring farmland when the A27 Brighton bypass was built.

Previous plans to develop the site have fallen through, from a park and ride to a hotel proposal, with people raising concerns about the potential pollution of the water source under the site.

The aquifer acts as a natural store for the water supply for the majority of homes in Brighton and Hove.

Patcham also has a history of flooding, which neighbours have raised in the past, concerned about the extra run-off if the site is surfaced with concrete or a similar material.

The cabinet is due to meet at 2pm on Thursday 14 November when approval for the disposal is expected to be given. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.

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