Specialist nursery move to former school site in Brighton approved

Members of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee agreed to sell the Connaught Annex in Hove to the Jeanne Saunders Centre charity.

The charity operates a nursery for children with special educational needs and disabilities at Penny Gobby House, in Palmeira Avenue, Hove, but the building is no longer suitable for its needs.

A report to the committee said that the current building had an unsuitable layout and limited accessibility.

The annex, in Connaught Road, has been valued at £800,000 and the charity will fund the move by selling Penny Gobby House.

The committee, made up senior councillors, approved the deal at a meeting at Brighton Town Hall today (Thursday 25 April).

Once the nursery moves to the Connaught Road site, it will be based on a single open-plan floor, with an outside area, allowing the children to “free flow”.

The Connaught Annex was previously used by West Hove Infant School which is now based in Holland Road.

An offshoot of Hill Park School known as The Hive recently occupied the annex while work was completed at its permanent base in Lynchet Close, Hollingdean.

The council is the sole trustee of the Jeanne Saunders Centre charity – and Green councillor Sue Shanks asked if that was normal.

The council’s new chief executive Jess Gibbons said that it was not uncommon for councils to be the sole trustee and the charity would be managed in line with Charity Commission rules.

The meeting was the last for the Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee because the council is to be run by a cabinet rather than committees from next month.