Brewery opposes town centre flats

A developer wants to build the homes, with space for restaurants or shops, on the site of Wenban- Smith on Eastgate Wharf, near Waitrose.

Harveys is shocked at the plan to put houses so close to it's Lewes headquarters and said homeowners would have their lives ruined by noise from the brewery.

The town council's planning committee said the proposal was 'driven by greed' and the apartment blocks were far too tall and would spoil views.

Hamish Elder, the joint managing director at Harveys, said: 'We have serious misgivings regarding the suitability of the site for residential apartments.

'The site is surrounded by commercial activity, which includes trade traffic movements and general noise in this employment part of the town, are not conducive to the "enjoyment of reasonable quiet" which residents are statutarily entitled to.'

He said the Environmental Health Department would be inundated with complaints from residents about the noise, light and smells from the brewery.

Developer Barrat Southern Counties has been working on the project for two years and staged an exhibition of its plans in March.

But the town council's planning committee, which met on Tuesday

evening, was strongly opposed to the plan.

Cllr Merlin Milner said: 'The apartment block is 21 metres tall, that's the same height as the Harveys tower which is a landmark building in the town.

'But the tower will be dwarved by a huge blob of housing.

'The application is just driven by greed.'

Cllr Susan Murray said the 'ugly building' would ruin the views of the brewery.

The planning committee also questioned the wisdom of building on an area which was so close to the river and susceptible to floods.

In 2000 the Wenban-Smith building was badly hit by the floods and the developer has said it would build a 2.1 metre wall flood defence wall if the application was agreed.

The final decision on the application will be made by Lewes District Council.