Data shows no affordable housing built in Eastbourne in 12 month period

Eastbourne council has come in for criticism after it was revealed that while 200 homes were built within the borough, none of them provided social housing – although the authority has disputed this and described the data as “wrong and misleading”.

In Wealden – which admittedly as a much larger footprint than Eastbourne – 1,034 new homes were completed with 343 of those affordable housing.

Wealden had the most number of homes built throughout the district followed by Rother, Lewes, Hastings and Eastbourne.

Sixty six affordable homes were provided in Lewes, 43 in Rother, 16 in Hastings with none in Eastbourne.

One Eastbourne councillor, Conservative Colin Belsey said the Liberal Democrat controlled council was letting residents down on housing.

He said, “Comparison figures for 2019/2020 housing completions do not put us in a good light. The figures issued by East Sussex County Council comparing affordable housing in the county show a woeful situation in our town. None completed in the year 2019/2020 when we have a large waiting list and growing problems coming when the lockdown comes to an end and the furlough scheme finishes.

“I know there are builds in the pipeline, but these will not come to finished houses for some years as most have not been to planning as yet.

“I appreciate we have less land available in Eastbourne and this will continue to be a problem but we are letting a section of our residents down.”

Eastbourne council’s cabinet member for housing Alan Shuttleworth said, “The numbers in the table are clearly wrong and very misleading. We have built 21 new homes over the last two years.

“I understand this type of monitoring ignores sites that deliver under six units and are instead focused on larger schemes, where affordable properties are developed according to Section 106 requirements.

“This means that council sites of four or five properties are not included in the figures. I am certain Councillor Belsey is aware of this.

“In addition to the 21 properties I’ve highlighted, we have acquired 77 homes through our ‘street acquisition programme’, where we have purchased properties and in most cases rented them to people from our housing register.

“Looking ahead we are on target to build 12 flats in central Eastbourne ready for families in October this year. In Southfields Road we have just received planning permission for 19 flats.

“We are talking to Homes England about building seven new houses in Fort Lane, 102 homes are earmarked on the Bedfordwell Road site and our commercial team is seeking permission for a further 56 new properties.

“This erroneous set of figures also fails to acknowledge that, unlike Wealden District Council, we are bordered by the English Channel to the south, the South Downs National Park to our west and the Pevensey Levels in the east.”

“This erroneous set of figures also fails to acknowledge that, unlike Wealden District Council, we are bordered by the English Channel to the south, the South Downs National Park to our west and the Pevensey Levels in the east.

“As much as we wouldn’t be without these precious landmarks, we can all agree that they do rather limit our scope for major housing developments in Eastbourne.”