Now Eastbourne Borough Council’s scrutiny committee has received a verbal update on the long-awaited centre — set to be run by the Towner gallery — with council leader Stephen Holt telling members how the scheme, funded through Levelling Up grant monies, will be scaled back and proceeding as a “phased delivery” due to the ‘immense costs’.
The main build work is now scheduled to start by the end of 2027, councillors were told, with a view to completion by March 2028.
Readers on social media have largely met the announcement with frustration, suggesting the scheme was always ‘a white elephant’ and a ‘vanity project’.
Angela Davis asks: “Does anyone actually want this project?
“So they are going to remove any elements that may allow the site to be financially stable. It’s got disaster written all over this project.”
Michaele Wynn-Jones adds: “The idea was a non runner from the outset. Give to a tenant farmer!!”
Denise Rogers says: “I’d love to see the original business case to see what numbers were included in the benefits and how these stacked up against the costs.
“If costs have increased and the deliverables are being scaled back then the benefits case will also reduce and there should be a go/no go decision if the remain v benefits are at risk.
"Instead our leaders will plough ahead despite no one wanting this white elephant and will continue to sink money that should have been used elsewhere in the town. There is no levelling up here, it’s just a vanity project.
“Who will be tracking the benefits, who is auditing any of this?” she asks.
Carol Parks writes: “I couldn't see how the Council were going to deliver this, with the cost of everything rising.
"A pity they can't just forget this idea and allocate the funds to something that really needs an injection of cash, but the money is ring-fenced.”
Michael Pegg argued: “Remember when the council had the option of selling the farm for a profit but the residents didn't want them to for... reasons.. Never happy.”
But he was advised by reader Susan Gregory: “The council did not have an option to sell them as it does not own the downland farms, as was clearly stated when it tried to sell them. They were bought,along with huge swathes of downland, by subscriptions from the townsfolk of Eastbourne in the late 1920s, and in the relevant paperwork it was stated as being “in perpetuity”. The farms are owned by the town and its inhabitants.”