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Plans for a new Royal Mail sorting office in Brighton have received more than 200 objections in the space of a week. It comes after a formal planning application has been submitted to Brighton and Hove City Council months after SussexLive learned of the proposal earlier this year.
Details began to emerge in January that suggested a public consultation would be launched for a “new state-of-the-art delivery office”. Now developers have revealed detailed plans for the site near the A27 which will include 217 parking spaces for staff and business vehicles.
When the plans were first revealed a spokesperson for Royal Mail told SussexLive: “With postmen and women delivering more parcels and fewer letters, Royal Mail is looking at its delivery office in the Brighton and Hove area. We have identified a site in Patcham for a new state-of-the-art delivery office.”
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Now though, residents and businesses have condemned the plans, with 202 people taking to the public comments section of the application to voice their objections, while just three responses are in favour of the plans. One comment submitted today (July 29) said: “This proposal would be a blight on a quiet, historic village location and add a huge problem with local parking and traffic congestion.”
Another respondent called the road a “rat run” and said the sorting office would “increase the problem”. Noise and the impact on wildlife were among the main concerns which have been raised alongside parking, congestion, and pollution.
Royal Mail said it has chosen the location north of Vale Avenue due to the easy access to and from the A27 and because the site is currently home to “derelict” farm buildings. The site would operate 24 hours a day but will provide 85 vehicle and 13 motorbike spaces for staff as well as 132 spaces in the operational yard for an all-electric fleet.
In the planning statement submitted with the application developers said: “The junction has been designed to allow HGVs to enter and leave directly from the strategic road network, in order to ensure such vehicles do not use the local roads east and south of the site.” They added that the proposal would see 234 staff on site per day with the existing two offices in Brighton and Hove being amalgamated into one.
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