A LEADING college’s “transformational” plans to bring 21st century teaching facilities to its historic campus have received a surprise boost.

The national Planning Inspectorate has overturned a decision by Brighton and Hove City Council's planning committee to reject their £10 million regeneration project in September last year.

College bosses said they were pleasantly surprised with the news that they can now go ahead with proposals to replace the school’s swimming pool and music school for a new five-storey classroom block.

City councillors have expressed their disappointment that their judgement has been overruled again after they rejected the application because of the loss of a mature elm tree.

The decision comes in the same month that planning inspector Ken Barton indicated he would not support their arguments against the University of Sussex's expansion plans.

The proposals for the five-storey Brighton College red brick building has been drawn up by esteemed architects Hopkins, who also designed the 2012 Olympic Velodrome and Glyndebourne Opera House.

It is part of major regeneration of the 19th century school site in Eastern Road, Brighton, alongside recently submitted plans for a sports and science building with 18 laboratories and sports facilities including a netball court, badminton courts, 25m swimming pool and a rooftop running track.

In his decision, planning inspector Kenneth Stone wrote that he was “satisfied” that the benefits of the scheme outweighed the “amenity and ecology value” of the under-threat elm tree.

The decision comes just weeks after the planning inspector was taken on a tour of the Brighton College site.

The college’s project director Steve Patten said they now had a decision to make on which project to proceed with first.

He said: “We are very pleased with the result, we were expecting it to be a more lengthy process than it turned out to be so that’s really good news.

“The sports and science block has momentum behind it and I’m never keen to lose that momentum to then pick it up later because it never quite works out that way so we may maintain our existing plans and come back to the academic building later.”

Green councillor Leo Littman, who voted against the proposals as a planning committee member, said: “Along with many other councillors on the committee, I felt that there were good, strong planning grounds to refuse both these applications, in the form in which they were put before us.

“Naturally it is disappointing that the Government's inspectors have allowed these developments to go ahead in their initial forms, rather than support the views of local elected representatives that changes might have been preferable.”