Hastings Horntye 107 homes and care home bid - this is when it goes before planners

Developers have put forward their plans for outline permission to redevelop land occupied by Horntye Park Sports Complex in Bohemia Road.

They are seeking permission to build 107 new houses and a 66-bed care home.

The scheme put forward by Hastings and Rother Sports Trust has received mix reaction from residents, who have submitted comments to Hastings Borough Council planners on the authority’s planning portal.

Ruth Spiller said: “I object to further loss of greenspace in the town and, the creation of further traffic. The local services are already over used, eg GP surgeries.”

Michaela Whiting added: “We are being constantly reminded of the facts that we are globally in the midst of a nature and climate emergency. The decline of nature affects us all and we should be looking for nature-based solutions, not more erosion of spaces like this that serves as a buffer for Summerfields Woods and the wildlife that exists there.”

South Saxons Hockey Club has given its backing to the proposals.

It said: “Our club has been in existence since 1895 and currently provides hockey to approximately 180 members and have been based at Horntye for 21 years since the pitch was opened.“The pitch is now worn out and needs replacing to ensure hockey continues in the area.“The development provides much-needed housing in the town and ensures that the many clubs using Horntye will continue to be able to access sporting facilities that will be some of the best in the region.“Without this development many of these clubs will cease to exist and reduce sport and leisure opportunities to our community.”

The trust said redevelopment of Horntyre Park was key to the survival of Hastings and Rother Sports Trust and the Horntye Pavilion, which is home to more than 40 local groups.

Horntye Park is owned by Hastings and Rother Sports Trust. It said it is working with developer UK Land Investors Ltd, to obtain planning consent from the borough council’s planning committee later this summer.

The trust said it just about breaks even financially, but added that it is unable to afford the £700,000 required to replace its dilapidated floodlit artificial grass hockey pitch back, the £300,000 required to undertake maintenance work to the pavilion and the high costs involved in servicing cricket at Horntye Park.

The Horntye Park Management Company is the sole trustee of the trust.

Its chairman Peter Finch said: “Maintaining the outdoor facilities to an acceptable standard for senior teams in higher leagues is simply not possible from the revenues we get.

“The trust has spent years trying to find suitable alternative sites in central Hastings for both the Hastings & St Leonards Priory Cricket Club and South Saxons Hockey Club, but have found no sites that made sense due to what would be the high cost of servicing such sites that could not be covered by the trust, the council or the cricket and/or hockey clubs.

"There is, however, land on the edge of town at Claremont School where new facilities can be built for the benefit of both clubs, the school and for wider public use.

“Developing the trust land for housing, in line with the borough’s Draft Local Plan, will give the trust the funds it needs to build state-of-the-art facilities at Claremont School.

"We will also enlarge and improve the facilities within the pavilion at Horntye Park, which will remain open for the benefit of the 40 or so groups that use it currently and for new users.”

David Tattenden, director of UK Land Investments Ltd, said: “We believe this to be a great opportunity for the town.

"The supply of new homes, particularly affordable homes, has been slow in recent years in the borough, and this scheme helps address that. The scheme also provides a modern care home with 66 en-suite rooms to meet the high standards required by Government, and it provides substantial funds to improve Horntye Park pavilion facilities and potentially new and other facilities in the borough.

“Our outline planning application was submitted in September 2021 and validated by the council on October 4, 2021. We hope to go before the planning committee later in the summer.”

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