Regeneration plans for Eastbourne are being scaled back as a result of rising costs.

On Monday (November 18), Cllr Claire Dowling, East Sussex County Council’s lead member for transport and environment, agreed to reduce the scope of plans to improve Eastbourne town centre by removing proposals to create a new civic space in Terminus Road.

The first phase of the project was completed in 2020, with large-scale improvements to the area around the town’s railway station and Beacon Shopping Centre.

The next phase was expected to have seen a further round of upgrades, with further pedestrianisation of Terminus Road between Bankers Corner and Langney Road. This was expected to include the creation of a new ‘civic space’. This would have involved the closure of a one-way section of highway connecting Bolton Road to Langney Road.

placeholder image — Cllr Clair Dowling. Pic: contributed

However, officers said the project had faced “significant unexpected budget increases” since its funding was first secured in 2019.

The total budget for the project is a little over £6 million of which a little under £2.5 million has already been spent. There is a remaining budget of £3.594 million to complete the scheme — a figure officers say is not enough to do everything in the original proposals.

A report stated: “With significant pressures on existing county council funding sources such as the capital programme of local transport improvements, and no current identified external funding sources available, an assessment has been undertaken to determine the extent of the previously designed scheme that can be delivered with the remaining available funding.

“Following this review process, and to remain within the available funding envelope, it is proposed that the design is de-scoped.”

During the meeting, Eastbourne councillor David Tutt (Lib Dem) called on Cllr Dowling to delay her decision, arguing the council needed to give residents and businesses a greater say in its next steps.

Officers warned a delay could result in the project needing further amendments, should costs continue to rise.

Cllr Dowling said: “This isn’t the first package we have had to [change], we’ve had to look at the whole of the capital programme. We’ve had to do it with the Hastings package, we’ve had to do it with the Eastbourne and Wealden package. My concern is, if we do what has been suggested … if and when it comes back we might not be able to afford what we are doing now. What we are doing at the moment is we are looking to complete the first bit. That bit is desperate for regeneration. It is so desperate and to hold it up, I think, would be a mistake.”