In March 2009, the planning application to build a massive office block over the beach and sea to the east of Brighton Marina was withdrawn. The developers had failed to answer key questions about the impact of the building on a popular surfing beach and its visual impact on the seafront of what is now the South Downs National Park. They had tried to maintain that the proposal was not a 'tall building' according to the council definition, but this had been refuted by objectors using the developers' own measurements. The application was left dead in the water. Or, more precisely, dead and not in the water.
The application to demolish a fine Victorian building (Medina House) which had been left to decay, and build the chisel of gloom in its place on the Hove seafront has also been withdrawn. It would have overshadowed the Victorian cottages behind it and had paid only mealy-mouthed lip service to the requirement to provide an element of affordable accommodation. It would have set a worrying new precedent for thoughtless, retrogressive seafront development.
