Eastbourne planning: 714 homes needed, 301 planned

Eastbourne Borough Council has written a Local Plan that openly plans to build less than half the housing the government says the town needs, and it says so in its own summary document. The government’s figure is 714 homes a year. The draft plan allocates land for about 301 a year, 6,010 over the twenty years to 2042.

The council’s argument is that the higher number cannot be built without concreting the floodplain that protects the town, or pushing into the South Downs. Whether a Planning Inspector accepts that is the single biggest question hanging over development in Eastbourne, and the plan’s own summary is blunt about the risk: not meeting the housing and employment need “may mean that the Local Plan does not pass the examination from the Planning Inspector, unless they can be convinced that there are exceptional reasons why.”

The gap, in numbers

Why the council says it cannot build more

Eastbourne is boxed in on every side. The sea is to the south, the South Downs National Park, which is its own planning authority, is to the west, and the Wealden district boundary runs along the north and east. In the middle sits Eastbourne Park, the low-lying green heart of the borough that stores floodwater and keeps the surrounding neighbourhoods dry. Most of it is protected as functional floodplain, and the plan is explicit that development there must not reduce its capacity to hold water.

That leaves brownfield land, and the plan leans on it hard: around 82% of the 6,010 homes are on previously developed sites in the Town Centre, Seaside, Langney, Meads and Sovereign Harbour, with density ranges set per neighbourhood and taller buildings encouraged in the centre. A small number of edge-of-town sites are proposed where flooding, landscape and ecology issues can be handled.

On jobs the plan is more confident. It forecasts around 3,000 new jobs by 2042, needing 4,900 square metres of office space and about 30,700 square metres of industrial space, and identifies roughly 40,000 square metres of employment floorspace, which it says meets the need in full.

The 25 strategic sites

These are the larger allocations that will actually change the look of the town. The biggest, by homes:

Beyond those, the plan allocates the former Curzon Cinema on Langney Road for about 30 flats keeping the historic facade, the former police station on Grove Road for 50, the former law courts on Old Orchard Road for 30, a cluster of smaller sites on the former university campus at Queenwood, Wekin, New Field and Carlisle Road in Meads, and 35 family homes at Summerdown Field on Eastbourne College land. The former gas works east of Finmere Road is the big employment allocation, at 15,000 square metres of industrial space after full decontamination.

The Town Centre alone is expected to take a minimum of 1,911 new homes under Policy N1-A, made up of 187 completions, 479 commitments, 604 strategic allocations, 128 non-strategic allocations and 513 windfall.

What happens next, and when you can object

The consultation that has already happened was the Regulation 18 draft, open for eight weeks from 13 February to 10 April 2026. If you missed it, you have not missed your chance.

The council says every response is being considered as the plan is refined, and that a final version will go out for a further round of consultation in autumn 2026 before it is submitted to government for independent examination by a Planning Inspector. That autumn round is the Regulation 19 stage, and it is the one that counts: at that point you are making representations that the Inspector reads, not comments the council may or may not act on.

Until the new plan is adopted, planning applications in Eastbourne are still decided against the older plans.

How to check a planning application near you

Eastbourne’s planning register is not on the Idox Public Access system at planningpa.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk. That instance serves Lewes district only, and searching an Eastbourne postcode on it returns nothing. The two councils share staff and a website but not a planning search.

For Eastbourne, use the council’s own planning search page. You can search by postcode, street name, reference number or keyword such as “loft conversion”, and it also carries a weekly list of applications and a weekly list of decisions going back several months. Full application details go back to 1995 and decision notices to 1948. Historic references were in the format EB/2018/0000; the search will find them but will display the newer reference number.

Anything inside the South Downs National Park boundary, which takes in the western edge of the town, is decided by the South Downs National Park Authority instead.

Comments must be in writing, are published in full with your name and address, and cannot be anonymous or treated as confidential.

Frequently asked questions

How many homes will be built in Eastbourne?

The draft Local Plan allocates land for 6,010 homes between 2022 and 2042, about 301 a year. The government’s assessed need for Eastbourne is 714 a year, so the plan falls roughly 413 homes a year short.

What is the status of the Eastbourne Local Plan?

It is at draft stage. The Regulation 18 consultation ran from 13 February to 10 April 2026. A final version goes out for consultation in autumn 2026 before being submitted for examination by a Planning Inspector.

Where can I search Eastbourne planning applications?

On the council’s own planning search, by postcode, street, reference or keyword. The Idox portal at planningpa.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk covers Lewes district only and will not find Eastbourne applications.

What is being built on the old Debenhams in Eastbourne?

The draft Local Plan allocates 152 to 170 Terminus Road for 120 homes in a taller building, with shops and leisure uses at ground floor. It is an allocation, not a consented scheme.

What is happening to the Claremont Hotel site?

The plan allocates the fire-damaged Grand Parade site for 65 flats, rebuilding the landmark and restoring the original facade.

Sources

• Eastbourne Draft Local Plan 2022-2042, ten-minute summary (PDF) for the 714 and 301 homes figures, the 6,010 total, the 82% brownfield share, the employment floorspace, the list of 25 strategic sites and the autumn 2026 next step.
• Eastbourne Local Plan Regulation 18 consultation, February 2026 (full document) for the policies themselves.
• Draft Local Plan, Town Centre Neighbourhood Policy N1-A for the 1,911-home Town Centre minimum and its supply breakdown.
• Lewes and Eastbourne Councils planning search for the application and decision weekly lists and the search coverage dates.
• South Downs National Park Authority planning for applications on the western edge of the town.

The plan is a draft and every figure in it can change before examination. Check the council’s consultation portal for the current version. What the housing market is actually doing is on Eastbourne house prices; the transport schemes the plan relies on are on Eastbourne roadworks and travel.