Petition to protect historic Hove site to be considered by councillors

A petition to protect Medina House, one of the most historic sites on Hove seafront, will be considered by councillors in just over a fortnight.

Save Hove, the conservation group, presented the petition to a recent meeting of the Brighton and Hove City Council Planning Committee.

Valerie Paynter, who handed in the petition, was unimpressed at the way that it was received.

It had been signed by more than 300 people urging the council to draw up a planning brief for Medina House in King’s Esplanade.

They say that the owner Sirus Taghan has submitted a number of inappropriate proposals for the site and has neglected the property.

The council’s Economic Development and Culture Committee will consider whether to ask planners to draw up a brief for the site.

A planning brief would mean that the owner had clear guidelines spelling out what he can and cannot do.

Neighbours have previously opposed proposals which they have criticised for being too tall and for overlooking a street of old cottages.

The petition’s signatories included Hove MP Mike Weatherley, ward councillor Andrew Wealls and Roy Pennington, a former deputy chairman of the planning committee.

Others to back the petition included the architects Andy Parsons and Geoffrey Baker and retired planning officers Sue Moffatt and Hazel McKay.

The other councillor serving the ward that includes Medina House, the Central Hove ward, is planning committee chairman Councillor Christopher Hawtree.

He said that the matter would be considered at the economic development and culture committee meeting at Hove Town Hall on Thursday 20 September.