Developer said to have paid £8 million for former Eastbourne school

Moira House School in Carlisle Road was taken over by the Roedean Group of Schools in 2018 and became known as Roedean Moira House before permanently closing in August 2020.

Meads Community Association (MCA) said it believes the site has been sold to a developer for ‘circa £8 million’.

The spokesperson for the group said, “We believe that potential impact on Meads of this redevelopment is on a par with that of the All Saints Hospital site which was the catalyst for the formation of the MCA in 1988 when the newly formed association lobbied the planners to ensure that the original buildings were converted sympathetically and insisted that any new buildings should be of the highest quality.

“The MCA has asked Eastbourne Borough Council planners to give us an assurance that we are to be involved at the earliest stage in discussions on the type of development proposed in order to ensure that it is appropriate for this part of Meads.”

The association says the council planners have responded ‘positively’ because they’ve ‘pledged to encourage the new owners to reach out and meaningfully engage with the local heritage and community groups’.

The group said, “On a positive note, we have discovered that the playing fields which were leased by Moira House from the Chatsworth Estates are completely separate and do not form part of the sale. At the time of writing the Chatsworth Estates had not been approached by the developer but we understand that the estate agents for Roedean made potential purchasers aware of their interests. We await a call from the developer’s architects to start a constructive dialogue.”

We have contacted the agents Knight Frank for a comment.