Strategic land promotion Eastbourne

Proposals for new homes and community facilities at Levels Place, Eastbourne

An outline planning application for Levels Place, Off Pevensey Bay Road, Eastbourne has been submitted to Eastbourne Borough Council.

The application (Reference: 230526) has now been validated (August 2023), and is available to view on the Council's website.

An outline planning application seeks to establish whether the scale and nature of a proposed development would be acceptable to the local planning authority, before a second fully detailed planning application (Reserved Matters) is submitted.

This site forms part of a wider site which has been identified as part of the Local Plan process as being suitable for new homes.

In summary the proposals include:

Up to 250 energy efficient new homes with a mix of house sizes and types, from 1 to 5 bed homes including a range of bungalows, flats and houses
30% affordable housing (i.e., up to 75 affordable homes)
Significant new public open space including equipped and natural children’s play areas
A significant landscape buffer of between 15m – 24m width has been included from the site boundary to proposed development along the western edge. (The average length of a double decker bus is 12m).

Where outline permission has been granted, and within three years of the outline approval, an application for the outstanding Reserved Matters can be submitted, i.e., the information excluded from the initial outline planning application.

This will include information about the exact layout, scale and appearance of the new homes, as well as the details of the open space and landscaping.

No development can take place on site until the Reserved Matters application has been consented.

Statutory consultees (e.g., Environment Agency and the Highways Authority) and local residents will have the opportunity to formally comment on the application direct with Eastbourne Borough Council

We will continue to work closely with the Council and where necessary will respond to statutory consultees through the planning process.

Planning Background

Within the administrative area of Eastbourne Borough Council, this greenfield site is 54 acres and lies adjacent to existing development and Eastbourne Borough Football Club.

The public consultation for our proposals closed 24th June 2023.

Local Plan

In November 2022, the Council held a public consultation on the emerging Local Plan 'Growth Strategy' which identifies the level of housing and employment growth required in Eastbourne and where it might be located.

The Local Plan consultation makes clear that not all new housing development can be accommodated on ‘brownfield’ land.

Reflecting this the ‘Growth Strategy’ identifies the potential development of ‘greenfield’ sites where there are no ‘showstoppers’ to development.

The land our proposals relates to north of Pevensey Bay Road is one of the potential sites identified for housing development by the Council in the ‘Growth Strategy’.

We will update this website on a regular basis as our proposals and planning application for the site progress.

Pressure On Existing Infrastructure - Schools, Doctors And Local Services

If planning permission is granted for our proposals, a Community Infrastructure Levy charge of £68 per sq metre of development will be paid to the Council to fund necessary improvements to local infrastructure.

We expect receipts from the Community Infrastructure Levy payment to be directed towards:

Transport Infrastructure: road capacity, rail services, bus services, community transport, walking/cycling and parking
Education: early years and childcare, primary schools, secondary schools, further education, higher education and adult learning
Health: primary care, secondary care
Community: indoor and outdoor sports/leisure facilities, outdoor children’s play areas, parks and amenity green space, allotments and community gardens, community meeting spaces and libraries
Green Infrastructure: green corridors natural and semi-natural urban green spaces
Flood / Coastal Defences

Have Your Say

Site Specifics

54 Acre Site (21.9 Hectares)
Up to 250 New Homes
New Homes. Up to 250 new homes with a mix of house sizes and types, ranging from 1 to 5 bed bungalows, flats and houses.
Affordable Housing. 30% affordable housing (i.e., up to 75 affordable homes).

Affordable housing is a combination of discounted rent, discounted sale (for first time buyers) and shared ownership housing, provided to eligible households whose needs are not met by the market.
Public Open Space. Significant new public open space including equipped and natural children’s play areas.
Boundary Buffer. A significant landscape buffer of between 15m – 24m width has been included from the site boundary to proposed development along the western edge. (The average length of a double decker bus is 12m).
Highways and Access. The main site access is proposed to be taken via a fourth arm onto the Martello roundabout. This access would serve vehicles as well as pedestrians and cyclists and would be compliant with local and national design guidance.

In addition, the existing field access, to the west of Martello roundabout, would be retained for use by cyclists and pedestrians.

As part of the Transport Assessment (TA) which will be submitted with the planning application, we have undertaken traffic surveys at a number of local junctions to establish the existing level of traffic. These traffic flows will be used to inform capacity assessments of the local junctions both now and in the future.
Ecology. Habitats of ecological value within the site will be retained and protected. The proposed design will create new habitats as well as public open space.

The watercourses and hedgerows surrounding the site will be protected and reinforced with new planting, so that all existing features of nature conservation value are retained and enhanced.

Wildflower grassland, hedges and new planting will be provided to benefit biodiversity. New bat and bird boxes, as well as features for reptiles and invertebrates will help further to promote local wildlife. The proposals will deliver a positive net gain in biodiversity.
Sustainability and Climate Change. Homes both new and existing account for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.

The homes will be designed in accordance with the Government’s Interim Future Homes Standard, which requires a 31% improvement over the current Part L 2013 standard. A range of measures will be implemented to reduce energy use and carbon emissions, in line with the energy hierarchy, and complying with national and local policy.
Flooding and Drainage. Due to the areas of floodplain on the site, a detailed pre-application process has been undertaken with both the Environment Agency (EA) and the Water Level Management Board (WLMB) to ensure that the FRA accurately assesses the site in terms of the fluvial (river) and tidal flood risk constraints.

The analysis will also ensure that there is no loss of fluvial floodplain storage as a result of any land reprofiling that is required to raise the development above flood levels.

Large areas of floodplain will be retained to the north and east of the development area, which offer an opportunity to enhance not only the local hydrological environment, but also the ecological and landscape character.

Onsite surface water attenuation will be provided in a range of sustainable drainage (SuDS) features. These SuDS features will not only provide attenuation but also provide significant water quality benefits.