Eastbourne Pier went on the council's community asset list on 21 September. It buys a six-month pause on a sale, but a sale in an insolvency is exempt.
Eastbourne Pier has been added to the council’s list of assets of community value. The listing is dated 21 September 2026 and carries the reference EBCACV09.
It is the only entry on Eastbourne’s current list. The council’s list of assets of community value was republished on 23 September. It names the pier, Grand Parade, BN21 3EL, and shows no sale notified and no moratorium running.
The listing gives the town a pause on a sale, not a veto. And the one kind of sale most people are worried about may not be covered at all.
What the listing does
The rules come from the Localism Act 2011, and the council sets them out on its Community Right to Bid page. If the owner wants to sell the freehold, or grant a lease of 25 years or more:
- the owner must tell the council first
- the council tells the nominating group and publicises the sale locally
- community groups then have six weeks to register a non-binding interest
- if one does, the sale is paused for up to six months in total, so the group can raise money
- after that, the owner can sell to anyone, at any price
- a further pause cannot be triggered for 18 months
The council’s page is plain that this “does not confer a right of first refusal”. A community group gets time to bid, not a guarantee of buying.
The listing also counts in planning. The council’s assets of community value page says it “is taken in to account when planning decisions are made”.
The catch: insolvency sales are exempt
The pause does not apply to every sale. The exempt cases are listed in Schedule 3 of the Assets of Community Value Regulations 2012. They include:
- a sale by a lender using a power of sale over the land
- a sale “pursuant to insolvency proceedings” under the Insolvency Act 1986
- a sale of a business as a going concern, which the council’s own page lists among the main exemptions
That matters here because a company tied to the pier is in compulsory liquidation.
Lions Pier Limited (company 09771864) was wound up on 12 May 2026, according to its Companies House insolvency record. The Official Receiver is the liquidator.
The petition was brought by Eastbourne Borough Council itself. The council’s petition, presented on 25 March 2026, describes it as “a Creditor of the Company”, according to the London Gazette notice. The winding-up order followed in the High Court in Manchester.
An earlier Gazette notice from 2020, for a petition by a different creditor, gave the company’s address as Eastbourne Pier, Grand Parade.
What we could not establish today is who holds the title to the pier itself. No record we could read says whether Lions Pier Limited owns the structure or only trades from it. In the Commons in June, the town’s MP described it as “a company connected to the pier”.
That question decides how much the listing is worth. If the pier’s owner is in liquidation, a sale by the liquidator would fall inside the insolvency exemption. If it is owned by another company that is still trading, the six-month pause would apply.
A bigger power is on the way, but not yet
Parliament has already passed a stronger version of the scheme. Section 67 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 brings in a “community right to buy assets of community value”. The Act received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026.
It is not working yet. The official text records section 67 as in force only “for specified purposes”, which under section 108 means the powers to make regulations. Until those regulations arrive, the pier’s listing runs under the old 2011 right to bid.
The state of the pier
Eastbourne Pier is listed at Grade II* and has been since 17 May 1971. Its Historic England list entry says it opened on 13 June 1870, designed by Eugenius Birch. The seaward Pavilion theatre with its camera obscura dates from 1901.
It is also on the Heritage at Risk Register. The entry records:
| Measure | Historic England’s assessment |
|---|---|
| Condition | Very bad |
| Vulnerability | High |
| Trend | Stable |
| Priority | C: slow decay, no solution agreed |
| Ownership | Commercial company |
How it got here
Eastbourne MP Josh Babarinde raised the pier twice in the Commons in June. On 15 June he asked ministers to back his campaign to have it “registered as an asset of community value”. The communities minister Nesil Caliskan offered to meet him.
Two days later he raised it at Prime Minister’s Questions. He said residents had “become concerned for the pier’s future” and that “maintenance costs for piers across the country are sky high”.
The council’s list does not name the group that made the nomination. Only certain community bodies can nominate, and the council decides whether the land qualifies.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes on the pier day to day. The listing does not affect opening, trading or who runs it.
- If a sale is notified, it will be public. The council must publicise it in the area. We will report it.
- Only a constituted community group can register interest. That means a charity, a community interest company, a co-operative, a company limited by guarantee that does not distribute profits, or a parish council.
- The clock is five years. Under section 87 of the Localism Act, the entry comes off the list at the end of five years, on 20 September 2031, unless it is removed earlier.
- Watch planning. Any application affecting the pier now has to weigh the listing. New applications appear in our Eastbourne planning news.
Under section 92 of the Act, the owner can ask the council to review its decision to list the pier.
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