Sea Change’s attempts to attract businesses to the North Queensway Innovation Park were unsuccessful. This image is from June 2021, shortly after it filed its application to build industrial units.

Sea Change’s plans for North Queensway site are timed out

Sea Change Sussex’s application to build business units on its North Queensway Innovation Park has lapsed, and the company looks unlikely to try to revive it. Despite several recent setbacks, it says it has various irons in the fire to keep it occupied in the future. Nick Terdre reports.

On 18 September the HBC planning services manager noted that Sea Change Sussex’s application to develop the North Queensway Innovation Park had been “finally disposed of.” The economic development company had planned to build just over 4,000 sq metres of light industrial units and 490 sq metres of “bespoke space” for a local employer on the site.

The application also sought the renewal of planning permission to build a car showroom, presumably to house the Seat facility on Sedlescombe Road North which Sea Change hoped – in vain, it turned out – would move to make way for the Queensway Gateway Road.

Sea Change itself said it was unable to implement its plans for the North Queensway site due to not enjoying full ownership. “Sea Change Sussex has only had partial ownership of the site and the full ownership was not made available to the company as expected, which has prevented it from developing the site to date,” a spokesman told HOT.

The company was currently reviewing its options for the future of the site, he said.

In terms of documents filed the application had been dormant since December 2022.

A protest against Sea Change’s application and its presumed effects on the flora and fauna in the vicinity was held in August 2021.

Objections

In addition to dozens of objections from individuals and an e-petition, it also met opposition from Natural England over the potential impacts the agency suggested it would have on the adjacent Marline Valley nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The planning department had told Sea Change to address Natural England’s “considerable concerns,” which it subsequently claimed it had done in a document filed in July 2022.

The project had earlier suffered a reverse when the South East Local Enterprise Partnership rescinded a £3.5m grant towards its £4.5m overall cost after deciding that it would not achieve HBC planning permission by October 2021, and complete construction 12 months later, despite the company’s assurances.

Sea Change’s decision to construct business units itself was taken after its original scheme, whereby interested companies would build their own units, failed to produce a response.

Out of Queensway Gateway Road

Sea Change has also found itself excluded from the final stages of completion of the Queensway Gateway Road, which recently got under way after years of delay caused widespread criticism of the company and the project owner, East Sussex County Council. ESCC decided to appoint another contractor to take the project to completion.

Sussex Exchange, where Sea Change’s tenant went into administration this summer.

Just down the road from the North Queensway site is Sussex Exchange, a restaurant, bar and cinema complex developed by Sea Change and of which it is the landlord and owner of the building, which went into administration in July.

Optimistic

Despite these various setbacks, and the squeeze on public funding which has financed much of its activities, Sea Change says it “is highly optimistic about funding and its ability to continue the economic development programme. The company isn’t reliant on public sector funding as it has always financed its own staff and day-to-day activities, while much of its economic development work has been privately financed in recent years.”

It has plans to tap into new sources of investment though it declines to say what these are for the time being.

Over in Bexhilll the High Weald House business centre is now two thirds occupied and half of the remaining offices are under offer. Sea Change has also been getting further infrastructure installed at the Bexhill Enterprise Park, the spokesman said.

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