Council calls off Bulverhythe Rec development

The prospect of a large housing estate being built on Bulverhythe Rec has disappeared following Hastings Borough Council’s decision to withdraw its application. The move follows an unfavourable assessment by the Environment Agency of proposed measures to counter the flood risk. Nick Terdre reports.

Hastings Borough Council’s application to build a large housing estate on Bulverhythe Recreation Ground (HS/FA/20/00966) has been withdrawn on Environment Agency advice after modelling indicated “a potential flood risk that is wider than previously understood,” in the words of housing and homelessness lead Cllr Andy Batsford.

There were also time constraints that could not be met – “Extensive site investigation work and flood modelling showed that work could not progress quickly enough to meet the terms of the Homes England funding the project relied on,” a council statement explained. March was basically the deadline, Batsford told HOT.

The proposed development, which called for 192 rented affordable home on the lower tier of Bulverhythe Rec and sports pitches on the upper tier, had been awarded a grant of almost £7m under Homes England’s Local Authority Accelerated Construction programme aimed at helping councils bring forward sites with specific problems to be overcome – in the case of the lower tier, the regular floods which form after heavy rains.

However, the work performed failed to persuade the Environment Agency. In February 2021 it wrote to the council citing its objection to the development on three grounds, all to do with flood issues and water management. The flood risk posed by the development was not adequately addressed by the flood risk assessment and associated hydraulic modelling which had been submitted, it said.

The following August, when  it had been supplied with additional documents, it responded that its previous objections still stood as the flood risk assessment remained inadequate.

Disappointed

“We are naturally disappointed that we are not able to progress this scheme and have always said that if we could not get the Environment Agency’s agreement on how to move forward with this site that we would not progress it,” said Batsford.

“We’re already working with partners to find alternative sites which we can more easily develop and deliver the much-needed affordable homes as part of our 500 affordable homes programme commitment to the town.  We will also continue to seek further external funding that can help us meet the local housing need and support our communities to prosper and thrive.”

He defended the original decision to develop an application in view of the town’s “massive housing crisis.” “The funding offered by Homes England gave us the opportunity to explore and develop proposals to deliver a number of these much-needed homes on this site and it would have been a dereliction of our duty as a council and to those local families, keyworkers and low-paid residents desperate for a home not to have taken this opportunity.”

Stewart Rayment, the Liberal Democrat candidate for West St Leonards in 2021, welcomed the withdrawal of the application, “even though it was clear that Labour’s heart was not in it. Short-terms solutions like building on flood plains were hostages to fortune, and not meeting the challenges of climate change.”

Squandered

“Labour has squandered other sites – wanting a hotel on the Cornwallis car park, when there are other buildings that might be used to that end, and they do not stand up to SeaChange on sites. They probably have to talk more to Rother District Council, who face the same problems – one of which is land-owners and developers sitting on sites rather than getting on with building,” he told HOT.

The West Marina community group called the announcement “Great new for the ‘old rec’”, but suggested that the alternative sites referred to by Cllr Batsford would include the old bathing pool site where it is opposed to the council’s development plans. It speculated hopefully that the Bulverhythe Rec decision might set a precedent for the bathing pool site as the latter’s “flood zone rating of 3 is identical to that of the ‘old rec’.”

In parallel with the work on flood mitigation, the development had moved forward in other ways – the case file contains some 250 documents submitted either as part of the planning process. Many objections had been lodged, including a petition from Bulverhythe Protectors with more than 800 signatories which was ruled invalid by the planning department.

Batsford is hopeful the site may one day come back on the development agenda – Homes England hinted that other sources of funding might become available in the future, he said. And he believes the flood mitigation work is on the right track to identify a viable solution.

 

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