History
The completion of the Brighton Main Line from London to Brighton in 1841 encouraged high-density housing development on the hill west of London Road. Between this area and the railway line and station stood Brighton's steam locomotive works and the lower part of the station goods yard. The first locomotive was produced here in 1852. By 1896, the works employed more than 2,200 people in the manufacture and maintenance of locomotives for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. The works and its associated buildings were situated on an artificial plateau dug into the side of the chalk slopes, with the railway line on top, the works at a lower level and the lower goods yard beneath, 9 metres (30 ft) below track level. (The works had been extended on a pier across the lower goods yard at one point.) Production lasted until 1957, after which the buildings survived for some time before being cleared in 1966 to make way for the largest car park on what was then British Rail's Southern Region. The lower goods yard section towards Trafalgar Street was no longer used by British Rail after the early 1970s, although it did not finally close until 1980. Part of the land was incorporated into the car park, and the rest saw a mixture of uncoordinated uses, such as small office blocks and used car dealerships. Many of the houses adjoining the goods yard were demolished in 1962 and 1968, and some tower blocks were built nearby. Further north, a large multi-storey car park was built in 1976 close to St Bartholomew's Church.
Various proposals were put forward for more effective use of the land. The first was in 1989, when a mixed-use development, centred on a new pedestrianised square outside St Bartholomew's Church, was planned. It would have included a supermarket, offices, houses and other shops, and a relief road designed to take traffic away from the congested London Road. The Environmental Services Department of what was then Brighton Borough Council produced a planning brief for the site in October 1993, stating a desire to "recreate in the area west of London Road a vital, urban, mixed use townscape which links a regenerated and environmentally enhanced London Road shopping centre with North Laine and the station". The desire to use the site to its full potential was increased when city status was awarded to Brighton and Hove in 2000; it was the largest brownfield site in the city.
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