Arundel Airbnb plans scrapped

Arun District Council’s plans for a four-bed holiday let to replace a set of garages in River Road have been scrapped by the council’s economy committee following cost increases and with projected earnings lower than forecast.

Estimate costs went from £486,000 to £545,000 from 2022 to 2023, with estimated earnings dropping from £110,000 to £57,000 – which would have resulted in a total annual loss of £14,000.

The recommendation from council officers was to discontinue the project and search for alternative options for the site due to its financial prospects and pre-planning advice from planning officers, which stated the building would be ‘out of keeping’ with the area.

Any further spending would have had to be pulled from the council’s revenue budget, which officers said was already ‘under pressure’ – with Arun already expected to run out of revenue reserves by 2029.

Officers also said over 25 years the project was predicted to generate a return of £88,000 on the £545,000 needed to put into it, a return some £2million lower than initially predicted.

They added selling the site could generate £810,000 for the council based on rough estimates.

Councillor Stephen McAuliffe (Green, Arundel & Walberton) called the project a ‘party house’, and said Arundel Town Council and residents had been campaigning against the development since its approval last year.

He said: “Fitting a single-storey building akin to a public lavatory, in design terms, into a location surrounded by town houses and warehouse developments would be out of keeping with the area.”

Mr McAuliffe agreed income potential from assets needed to play a part in balancing the council budget, and that the existing garages were run-down, he said ‘more appropriate income generation’ needed to be considered for the River Road site.

He added: “For example, I’d like to explore the potential of the site for short-rotation, bookable, community EV charging. This would provide much needed EV charging capacity for Arundel residents and also be more sustainable – both in financial and environmental terms.”