Hundreds Oppose Brighton Weapons Factory Extension

MPs and councillors have joined hundreds of people in opposition to a defence manufacturer’s plans to keep a temporary extension at its Brighton factory.

The application was due to go before Brighton and Hove City Council’s Planning Committee on Wednesday, March 6, but has been put back to Wednesday, April 3 as planning officers seek legal guidance.

Temporary planning permission for the extension built at L3 Harris’s site at Home Farm Business Centre in Home Farm Road, Brighton, in September 2018, was for five years.

More than 600 objections were submitted by the public as the company builds products used in conflict zones globally, with most comments referring to bomb racks and bomb release mechanisms. A further 130-signature petition was also submitted.

In the application to make the building permanent L3 Harris’s agent Parker Dann said:

“It is likely, that to support the business needs of the applicant on the site, a further application for a new extension would follow a refusal of the retention of the existing extension, as this is now an integral part of the operations at current staffing levels.

“The loss of the extension could harm the financial stability of the current operations and impact on staffing levels and employment in the city.

L3 Harris. Extension image from Park Dann Planning Consultants

“Removing an existing structure, only to seek to replace it with a new permission would result in needless carbon usage through energy expenditure at both stages.”

Conservative councillor Samer Bagaeen, who is a professor of planning, has opposed the application as the extension is “in breach of planning law” and neither the policy nor economic development teams at the council had commented on the proposals.

He said:

“If economic development saw no need to comment because of the absence of business impact, then the comment from the applicant in the planning statement that the removal of the extension would adversely impact on the business requirements of the applicant, with associated risk to local employment is false.

“Others have objected here noting that it would be a good thing if the business requirements of the applicant were harmed given it is engaged in an unethical business model but that is not a planning issue.

“I also disagree with the applicant’s statement that if the extension were to be removed, this would also cause environmental harms through the loss of the embodied carbon in the existing structure, and the loss of materials that would  enter the waste stream as a result of the removal.”

Labour councillors Mohammed Asaduzzaman and Theresa Fowlers have opposed the application due to the expired planning permission and comments from residents in Hollingdean and Fiveways ward.

East Brighton and Peacehaven Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle raised the political issues surrounding L3 Harris’s business as an arms manufacturer as items made in the factory have been found in Yemen after international humanitarian law (IHL) violations occurred.

He said:

“I urge the Planning Committee to take real precautions to prevent any arms produced in our city to be used against innocent lives.

“The committee needs to examine the legal implications of knowingly allowing the supply of weapons parts made on its land to be used in violation of international law.”

Green councillors Raphael Hill, Ellen McLeay and Kerry Pickett also opposed the application, as did Brighton Pavilion Green MP Caroline Lucas.

Councillor Pickett said:

“Brighton and Hove City Council’s constitution says that all decisions ‘will be made in accordance with respect for human rights’.

“Military action against civilians using weapons from L3-Harris in Gaza violates the basic principles of International Humanitarian Law and has been condemned by the United Nations, Amnesty International and many other human rights experts.

“This application should not be approved in line with the council’s own constitution.”

Ms Lucas recognised many people are against L3 Harris’s presence in the city, but the committee would only refuse the application on planning grounds and the original structure was temporary.

She said:

“L3 Harris is very well aware of their presence in the city being controversial, so I find it surprising that they were careless enough to allow their current temporary planning application to lapse and thereby be forced to retrospectively apply.

“The planning system must not condone large, well-resourced companies failing to adhere to the terms of previous planning agreements.

“Moreover, the site backs onto Wild Park, one of the city’s largest nature reserves.

“Whilst it is of course possible for the existing industrial buildings to co-exist alongside the neighbouring natural environment, it is important that businesses using industrial space are respectful of this, and that they adhere to planning rules and understand their obligations in this regard.

“The fact that such an established business has either flouted planning rules or not understood them is worrying.”

Anna Stavrianakis, Professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex spoke at a protest against the business extending its planning permission during a protest in Brighton on Saturday, February 24.

Professor Stavrianakis said:

“The council should not give planning permission to a company that makes weapons components that Israel is using in Gaza.

“The International Court of Justice says the war is plausibly genocidal: there is an obligation on all public bodies in the UK – including councils – to try and prevent genocide. Does Brighton and Hove City Council want to be complicit in genocide?”

There are two letters supporting the application, one from Conservative councillor Ivan Lyons.

Councillor Lyons said:

“I see no reason why the temporary extension not be permanent.

“This is a planning application and so long as what is being manufactured is legal it is not down to the anti-Israel mob and anti-semites to dictate to whom the manufacturer sells their wares.”