Introduction
The Eleven Sites are the undeveloped parcels of land at Sovereign Harbour. This page outlines their history and SHRA's position on their future development.
Background
After almost twenty-three years of construction the
residential element of the Sovereign Harbour development is coming to an end.
However, the social infrastructure necessary to turn this enormous area of
housing into a sustainable community has been completely ignored.
So too has the development of the promised high-quality business park that
should have been the 'work' element of the 'work-life' environment that was the
objective of the original 'Marina Village' concept.
The Five Sites
For a number of years SHRA successfully fought to prevent further
development on the five remaining sites for which outline planning
consent for residential development had been granted. During the
campaigns, these sites were referred to generically as “The Five
Sites” (Sites 1-5 in list below).
As a last ditch effort before this carte blanche consent expired,
developers Carillion submitted five planning applications for
residential development on four of these sites which were all
unanimously refused by the Eastbourne Borough Council (EBC) Planning
Committee after a huge public demonstration of opposition. Following
the refusal of these applications and following pressure by SHRA,
Carillion agreed not to pursue appeals against the refusal and offered
to work with residents to seek an equitable solution.
The Master Plan
Carillion then entered into discussions with SHRA, and officers and cabinet members of the then Conservative controlled EBC, on the creation of a Master Plan for the final development of all the remaining harbour development land. These negotiations continue with the Liberal Democrat administration.
Five Become Eleven
During the negotiations, other vacant sites not included in the now expired outline planning consent for residential development, were brought into the arena. For the first time, all eleven sites of remaining development land were put in the melting pot.
The Eleven Sites
Site One
-The parcel of land at Langney Point dominated by
Martello Tower 66
and a natural gateway to the South Harbour. (A peek inside Tower 66 -
Keep out! The inside structure of all the Towers is extremely
hazardous).
In the original concept, this land was seen as a tourist destination
with a ‘boutique’ hotel and a park with sea views. Carillion has
since made every effort to develop this land for residential purposes
but their plans have been resisted and, so far, thwarted. The most
recent application was for a ten story block of 140 flats that would
have dominated the harbour entrance and destroyed the outlook of
dozens of surrounding properties.
Only in the last year has any effort been made to market the land for
the intended purpose and this has been very low-key and low-cost. Not
surprisingly, Carillion say they have been unable to identify a
possible developer.
Site Two
-The land in Atlantic Drive, opposite Daytona Quay,
containing a fifty-five bay berthholder car park. Despite being rarely
used, Carillion insist that provision of this parking is a contractual
obligation and change of use for this site is impossible. However,
this did not prevent it from trying to get consent for residential
development on the site.
Occasionally in the evenings, this site becomes a magnet for young people, and
their vehicles, and local residents have complained of anti-social
behaviour.
Site Three - The
land behind 'The Harvester' currently used by the local fishing fleet
to store equipment and land their catch. A planning application for
residential development was refused, but Carillion has made no secret
that refusal has not dented its ambitions.
SHRA believes that this site should be developed as part of an
extended Waterfront tourist attraction and has brought forward
proposals that are detailed below.
Site Four - A
curved section of land by the North Harbour Bridge currently used for
the display of boats for sale. It offers open views of the North
Harbour.
This site too was the subject of a planning application for high-rise
residential development that would have closed off pedestrian access
to the waterside and destroyed the public views of the North Harbour.
Although the application was refused, as with Site Three, Carillion
still has ambitions for further residential development.
SHRA believes that this site too should be developed as part of an
extended Waterfront tourist attraction.
Site Five - This
small parcel of land is currently occupied by the temporary Carillion
offices in Harbour Quay. This site is adjacent to the Waterfront car
park and shares a boundary with Site Six. The land contains re-buried
domestic refuse and, anecdotally, other refuse of unknown origin. It
is still actively venting methane gas.
This site was identified as the preferred site for the Sovereign
Harbour Health Centre. However, following an unexpected and unwelcome
intervention by one of the Sovereign Ward councillors, Carillion
subsequently withdrew the land from sale and offered in its place a
piece of land on Site Seven. (See below).
Because of the nature of the buried waste, construction of any
structure above a single story would be difficult as it would require
the sinking of piles that would breach the membrane containing the
waste with possibly disastrous consequences for the water table.
It is interesting to note that the planning consent for re-burying the
waste contained a condition that there should be no residential
development within 250 metres of the site. Had this been enforced,
much of the development on Harbour Quay and Pacific Drive West could
not have taken place.
Site Six
- Previously known as “Commercial Site One”, this is
the parcel of land between Pevensey Bay Road and Harbour Quay at the
entrance to the North Harbour. Many will know it as the “B&Q” site
following two unsuccessful planning applications to build a DIY
Superstore on the land.
In the original concept for the harbour development this land was
reserved for a Business Park that would bring a large number of
quality jobs to the town. Despite having been given consent for the
construction of the Crumbles Retail Park to raise the funding to
“pump-prime” the development of the site, no meaningful effort has
ever been put into marketing it for this purpose.
This site was used to re-bury landfill refuse from other areas of the
development area and is still actively venting methane gas. The waste
is protected by membranes and covered by a “shingle mound”. The nature
of the contents has never been divulged, and the suspicion is that
nobody actually knows what has been buried there. The quantity and
unknown quality of this refuse presents serious constrains on possible
uses for the land.
Part of the site is currently being used by Premier Marinas for boat
storage. The planning consent for this operation expired over two
years ago and, despite representations to the Borough Council’s
Development Control officers, no enforcement has been taken.
Site Seven -
Previously known as “Commercial Site Two”, this parcel of land between
Pevensey Bay Road and Pacific Drive West was also reserved in the
original concept for the harbour development as part of the Business
Park development.
As with Site Six, the land has never been seriously marketed for the
purpose for which it was intended. Again, as with Site Six, funding
for the development of this land should have been provided from the
profits from the development of the Crumbles Retail Park, but
Carillion insists that development can only be funded by further
residential development.
Following the withdrawal of Site Five as the location for the
Sovereign Harbour Health Centre, plans have been drawn up to use part
of this land as a replacement.
It is interesting to note that, at the B&Q planning meeting, Carillion
stated that this land had ‘negative value’, but is now charging the
PCT £250,000 for the Health Centre plot.
Site Eight - A
narrow strip at the far end of the North Harbour. Consent was given for
this land to be used as a berthholder car park, and purchasers of
adjacent properties were given assurances, before entering into
contracts, that there would be no residential development on this
plot.
However, the car park was never constructed and Carillion has since
been very aggressive in its attempts to persuade the Borough Council
that it should be used for high-density, high-rise residential
development.
Site Nine - This
site is the
Martello Tower 64 on the North Harbour beach. It is in a
very poor state of repair and Carillion has indicated that, apart from
fulfilling its obligation to English Heritage to preserve it, there is
no chance of any meaningful development.
Site Ten - The
outer harbour peninsula. Previously used by the local fishing boat operators
to store equipment, it was purchased from Carillion by Premier Marinas
and has now been cleared. Premier has not published its plans for the
site, but indications are that it will be used for boat storage.
However, owners of surrounding properties have serious concerns about
the logistics of moving large boats to this location through
residential developments.
Site Eleven - This
is the land adjacent to the locks at the end of Key West. As with Site
Ten, it was sold by Carillion to Premier Marinas. It has always been
the ambition of the Borough Council that this area should be developed
as a visitor attraction, and this is shared by residents.
Despite receiving substantial income from residents through the
“Marina Rent Charge”, Premier Marinas has indicated that it is not
prepared to spend money on improving this area. Premier uses as an
excuse the fact that residents successfully contested a planning
application to develop the site.
However, that application was submitted by Carillion well before the
sale to Premier and Premier purchased it in the knowledge that the
site was designated as a tourist destination.
(For the record, the reason residents opposed the Carillion
application to develop Site 11 was that it included a “turning circle”
for the Dotto train which, had the application been successful, would
have run along the outer harbour promenade, close to the rear exits of
a number of properties. Residents also argued, successfully that,
because of the number of pedestrians who used the promenade, many of
them children, this would have been a safety risk.)
The Missing Social Infrastructure
The ‘Eleven Sites’, have huge potential for
development that will benefit the community while at the same time
allowing Carillion to make a reasonable return on its investment.
Provided that greed can be eliminated from the equation, Sovereign
Harbour could still become the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ of Eastbourne.
Sovereign Harbour has been massively overdeveloped in many areas and
the land owners, Carillion, are still intent on obtaining consent for
further residential development.
SHRA believes that the current situation is unsustainable without the
social infrastructure that should have been provided for a development
of this size. It also believes that, if the current development is
unsustainable, further residential development would be totally
inappropriate;
EBC Endorses SHRA's view
SHRA's position on future development was seemingly endorsed by Eastbourne Borough Council in the following motion, agreed at its meeting on 20th September 2006.
“Following the refusal of the recent applications for the remaining
five development sites in Sovereign Harbour, this council recognises
that the Humberts report has now been superseded. The Council
therefore requests a high level meeting with the landowner, council
members, planning officers, and representatives of local residents, to
develop a strategy for the remaining development sites.
Such a strategy should acknowledge Sovereign Harbour Ltd’s commercial
demands, but shouldn’t include further residential development. The
strategy should address much needed community facilities, such as open
space, play areas, a community centre, a medical centre, schools,
facilities for the boating community and potential business
opportunities, in keeping with the area, including a quality hotel.
The council recognises that the available land for development is
limited and should be considered as a whole to effectively provide for
a sustainable community.”
A Sustainable Community
SHRA, with the support of the Borough Council
is determined to resist any further residential development and to
fight to ensure that all the remaining development land is used to
provide the necessary social infrastructure and the business and
tourist facilities that will make Sovereign Harbour a sustainable
community for the future.
It is recognised that the land owners should be allowed a financial
return on their investment, but the massive overdevelopment has
already provided a windfall much larger than they could ever have
imagined. With this in mind, members of the SHRA committee have
examined the possible uses of the land, and have produced imaginative
proposals that would result in a 'win-win' outcome.
SHRA's 'Community with a Heart'
The proposals shown in the drawings at
the foot of this page are SHRA's concept of how the Sovereign
Harbour project could be completed to the benefit of all interested
parties; the land owners, the Borough Council and, above all, the
harbour residents who have invested so much of their hard-earned money
into their homes.
The drawings show SHRA's initial ideas of how the land could be
used; they should be regarded as a starting point for
future discussion and planning. We also have some ideas on the future of the whole
Waterfront area, including the commercial areas.
Latest News
March 2010 - SHRA write to
Premier about the untidy and uneven state of Site 11. Formal response
awaited.
February 2009 - the Liberal
Democrats published plans for the 11 Sites in a
Master Plan
consultation document.
March 2009 - local MP Nigel Waterson issued a
news release about
the Lib Dem plan.
1st September 2009 - the EBC Planning Committee
approved the plans for a Medical Centre on the corner of Pacific Drive
(Site 7).
December 2009 - test drilling on site 7 completed.
If you have any comments about the 11 Sites and their future
development, we would be pleased to
hear them. Please e-mail us at:
info@shra.co.uk
Drawings of SHRA's Concept (courtesy of and copyright © John O'Hara)
To view a larger (pdf) version of a drawing,
click anywhere on the pictures below
(will open in new window).
▲ Site One, Langney Point, which was always designated for a high-quality hotel development to match the Grand Hotel at the western end of the town. It also presents superb opportunities for recreation and leisure, with stunning views over the sea and the town.
▲ The drawing above, and the three below, show Sites Three and Four that are beside The Waterfront.
By combining these two sites, and moving the boatyard to the commercial area, where it really belongs, the opportunity is presented to build a 'village centre' that would feature shops, restaurants and open space that would be an attraction for Eastbourne residents and tourists alike.
It would give the harbour the heart that the developers have so far failed to provide, and create the sustainable community that everybody wants, and in which they could take pride.
▲ First impressions are vitally important if visitors to the harbour are to be encouraged to return. This drawing shows one possible view.
▲ Any village needs a centre, and the Sovereign Harbour Marina Village is no exception. In our view, the village centre should be a vibrant mix of shops and restaurants, with enough open space for visitors to stroll at their leisure. It should also provide the open space necessary to hold social events and, for example, visiting markets.
▲ Many visitors to Sovereign Harbour first arrive by boat. It is, therefore, essential that the village centre should look attractive from the water of the harbour. And those boats, of which Sovereign Harbour has plenty, are an added attraction for visitors. For that reason alone, the waterfront areas must be open, accessible to visitors and well maintained.
