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More than a thousand people have lodged objections to the Royal Mail’s plans for a distribution centre in Patcham.
The proposals have prompted protests and heated debate over the summer as Brighton and Hove City Council carried out a consultation which has now closed.
Green MP Caroline Lucas and the three Conservative councillors for the area are among the objectors to the scheme for Patcham Court Farm.
National Highways has lodged a holding objection, Southern Water has objected and the council’s air quality and flood risk teams have both recommended that the current plans be refused.
If the Royal Mail is granted planning permission, it would lease the land from the council and could sell two sites for housing – one in Brighton and one in Hove.
But among the many concerns about the scheme are that missed post and parcels will have to be collected from Patcham rather than the current Royal Mail sites in North Road, Brighton, and Denmark Villas, Hove.
Campaigners said: “Royal Mail is trying to purchase Patcham Court Farm from Brighton and Hove City Council.
“If it goes through, the sale will give Royal Mail control of land that is located on a critical aquifer, near a water pumping area that currently helps to supply water to over 116,000 people.
“Royal Mail’s plans pose a danger to drinking water, exacerbate known flood risks, would change a residential area to an industrial one and increase both pollution and traffic in the area.
“They would compromise the safety of the A27 and A23 (and) also threaten a conservation area and overshadow an ancient heritage site at Church Hill.”
National Highways said in its holding objection: “We will be concerned with proposals that have the potential to impact on the safe and efficient operation of the strategic road network, in this case, particularly within the vicinity of the A23 and A27 near Brighton.”
Campaigners are concerned that that the Royal Mail’s plans would mean an estimated 200,000 extra journeys a year through Patcham Village.
These would include 28 articulated and HGV lorry movements every day, or more than 10,000 a year, a marked increase on the Royal Mail journeys in Brighton and Hove currently.
They said: “Patcham does not have a public transport infrastructure to support 300 postal workers who would need to travel to the proposed 24/7 site.
“There are concerns that postal workers would have little choice but to drive to and from the proposed site.”
Southern Water told the council: “Based on the information provided, we believe the development could pose a significant risk to our Brighton A and B groundwater abstractions as the impacts from site demolition, construction and operation have not been considered in full.”
Rebecca Kimber, co-lead of the Patcham Against Royal Mail campaign, said: “Residents, professional bodies and our MP have spoken loud and clear: Royal Mail’s plans for Patcham are unsafe and inappropriate.
“To receive over 1,000 objections shows the scale and strength of feeling against these unpopular plans.
“We are now calling on the council to listen to experts and citizens and refuse Royal Mail’s plans for Patcham. We need to find better alternatives to this ill-thought-out and reckless bid.”
The campaigners have also asked why the current distribution sites in Brighton and Hove are not being invested in and modernised.
They said that in other areas the rail network was used to transport post to central distribution sites before it was delivered by e-bicycles instead of causing congestion and pollution on the roads.
The current Hove distribution site is located next to the railway station and campaigners are urging the council and Royal Mail to justify why they are considering not using this ready-made site and more sustainable modes of transport.
Although the formal consultation period has closed, the council’s planning team has said that it would still receive comments and objections via email at planning.applications@brighton-hove.gov.uk quoting reference BH2022/02232.
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