Sovereign Harbour car park extension and winter boat storage area approved

At a virtual meeting on Tuesday (July 21), Eastbourne Borough Council’s planning committee approved proposals to create an extra 60 spaces by extending the Waterfront Car Park next to the Sovereign Harbour Retail Park.

Part of the car park would also be used as winter boat storage, with vessels to be lifted out of the marina nearby.

It was this element of the proposals which had proven to be controversial, as residents feared it could lead to disturbances as a result of repair work and boat maintenance.

Sovereign Harbour ward councillor (and committee member) Paul Metcalfe (Con) said: “I’m a little bit torn between the devil and the deep blue sea, no pun intended.

“[The boat storage] has become of concern to residents in the area. Is this purely boat storage, boat sales perhaps, or is it to be used as an extension of the boat yard? 

“If this is to be used as an extension of the boatyard, in other words work to be carried out on boats there, I think this could be very disturbing.

“When repairing boats the sanding of hulls, the removal of paint, the sawing of wood etc does cause quite a lot of noise and disturbance.”

Cllr Metcalfe asked the committee to consider additional conditions to prevent boat repairs from taking place on the site.

In response, officers said that any large scale, commercial repair and refit work, would not be able to take place without a separate planning permission

However, they also warned that a condition preventing all repairs from individual boat owners would likely be unenforceable. As a result it would not pass the test for reasonable planning conditions and should not be imposed. 

Other committee members also felt differently about imposing such a condition in any case.

Cllr Barry Taylor (Con, Meads) said: “I’m sure what they will be doing is making sure they are locating boats that need a lot of work done, noisy work, within the yard and they can be maintained and worked on by the contractors down there.

“It is all part of what I consider should be a marina, where you get a storage area where private people will come along and fit bits and pieces and put dehumidifiers in to dry their hulls out. That is the normal thing.

“I’m not sure whether people should expect boats to just sit there and nobody to work on them.”

This view was shared by planning committee chairman Jim Murray (Lib Dem, Hampden Park), who said: “I tend to agree. If you had your car parked out in front of your house and it had a small dent you could repair it outside the front of your house.”

Following further discussion the scheme was approved with five votes in favour and two against. Cllr Taylor chose to abstain from voting having declared a personal but not prejudicial interest as a boat owner who uses the harbour’s facilities.

For further details see application reference 200138 on the Eastbourne Borough Council planning website.

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