Jim Gowans’ West Hill Watch…

Trafalgar Arches, Brighton Station

An application to create a restaurant /café in the disused storage space that was once part of the station’s lower goods yard seems to be an imaginative plan whatever one might think about having yet another café in the city centre! The area just off Trafalgar Road is dominated at present by a tall iron and brick structure which supported the parcels and goods offices when it was built in the 1880s. The proposed scheme is to install a curtain of glazing between the iron columns using materials inspired by railway architecture of the 1930s. Within the space created a mezzanine floor will be added, and every attempt to reveal and enhance the original Victorian features is promised.

Derwent Court, Buckingham Road

In contrast to the above an application, to convert garages and off-street parking spaces into flats is very uninspiring.  The so-called ‘heritage statement’ merely refers to the proposed white PVC  windows matching those existing! The proposed loss of five courtyard parking spaces at the rear of Derwent Court is claimed to “reduce the amount of travel movements to and from the site”, the implication being perhaps that this is of public benefit. It can be assumed, however, that once the parking spaces are built on, these “travel movements” will simply be displaced to a site somewhere near you.