Burchill's move stirs up the neighbours

Wherever Julie Burchill goes, controversy is never far behind. The newspaper columnist, novelist and ageing

One of the highest-paid scribblers in the country, Burchill is being paid by a development company which will demolish her six-bedroom detached house in Hove to make way for flats. The offer has made her "very happy indeed" - and fits the Government's housing policy for the South-East.

But residents in and around Chatsworth Square are disgruntled. The development will see four houses replaced with 78 flats, and opponents say it will change the area's character and harm wildlife. Mike Jameson, a property developer who lives in a house he built himself, said he would not sell - even for ?1 million.

He said: "There will be a loss of privacy for the people at the back of the street, and the design is not in tradition with the area.

We are not saying we are opposed to development at all but this is just too big."

Another opponent, Annie Corbett, said: "It's a very bad idea. It is a pity to knock down established homes with mature gardens and replace them with flats when there are other parts of town that would really benefit from development."

For one who once waxed sentimental about her Thirties house, Burchill has proved remarkably phlegmatic now money is on the table. When she saw the house it was love at first sight. "When I came to view it with a friend we saw the couple, in their seventies, snogging by the window," she said. "I thought this meant they had enjoyed a good time here, which was positive energy."

Now, asked if she would be sad to see her home demolished, she replied: "Not at all. I think people who become over-attached to non-living things are a bit weird and perhaps don't have satisfying personal relationships." She said the new development would "not change the nature of the area".

Adrian Black, a partner with development company Totem Architecture, said the flats would house more than 100 people while the four houses were home to fewer than 10.

The scheme was granted planning permission on the casting vote of Bob Carden, planning chairman of Brighton and Hove city council. He said: "I got some hate mail, but we desperately need more homes. We have people sleeping rough. Is that fair when we have single people in four-bedroom houses?"