Brighton weapons factory submits plans to keep extension

L3Harris, which owns the factory in Moulsecoomb, Brighton, is asking for permission to keep a temporary extension built in September 2018.

The grey hangar-like building to the side of the factory was meant to be demolished after five years.

But L3Harris says the building should stay, adding that removing it would harm local employment and the environment.

A planning application states: “The extension does not cause any harm to the appearance of the building, or the wider location, and [the] removal of the extension would adversely impact on the business requirements of the applicant, with associated risk to local employment.

“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”.

The documents add that the extension “facilitated an increase in employees, by providing the space required for the expansion of the business”.

L3Harris previously came under fire after it was revealed that parts from the factory were used in attacks on civilian targets in Yemen.

It was criticised after parts were used in a Saudi-led attack which “violated international humanitarian law”.

Fragments from a bomb found on the site of a destroyed water pump factory in Yemen were linked to the factory.

More recently the site has been targeted by protesters as parts from the site are also used in the type of fighter jets involved in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The new planning application was validated on Wednesday, December 20.

A consultation will begin in the new year.

The application will be determined by February 14, 2024.