Open Hastings Search or ask⌘K

The Local Plan, site HS2

HS2: Seaside Road, West St Leonards

West St Leonards ward, Seaside Road. From Appendix 1 Draft Local Plan - Pre Submission (Regulation 19) September 2026 ↗, Full Council, Wed 23 Sep 2026.

For
Mixed Use: Residential, Commercial and Leisure.
Minimum Indicative Capacity (net additional dwellings)
120
Site area
2.22 hectares
SHELAA reference
HL9
Seaside RoadSeaside Road, West St Leonards (at least 120 homes)
Placed at Seaside Road, the street its name gives, where OpenStreetMap puts it. The site's exact boundary is on the council's Policies Map ↗.

What the plan says about it

Seaside Road, West St Leonards is a vacant brownfield site with potential to be used as a mixed-use development incorporating 120 residential dwellings alongside commercial, leisure or recreational uses. This site should deliver a high-quality destination leisure environment for both visitors and residents alike, and provide clear links to the existing walking, wheeling and cycling network to create a vibrant and active connection to the wider seafront including the beachside area of the Combe Valley Countryside Park.

Seaside Road is one of the few remaining significant re-development sites within the seafront resort area. It presents an opportunity to create a high- quality development which, together with the adjacent Cinque Ports Way site, will both regenerate the area and act as a tourist attraction in its own right. The development should seek cohesion with the nearby Bexhill Road Local Centre by improving existing pedestrian and cycle access along Grosvenor Gardens and creating an attractive and safe route for residents and visitors that is well-integrated with the existing A259 crossing point that links the site to West St Leonards Station.

The rest of the plan's explanation (11 more paragraphs)

Commercial, recreational and leisure uses should be sensitive to and compatible with the seafront location of the development and should take advantage of opportunities to create a broad promenade for pedestrians and cyclists behind the seawall running east to west across the site and improve access to the beach itself. This should also act as a way of protecting views along the seafront.

As part of the recreation offer, public open space must be delivered in the northern part of the site opposite Seaside Way due to the presence of an underground water tank. There is an existing playground on the site that must be retained or sympathetically relocated to the same standard or better prior to the occupation of the development.

The site is in close proximity to the APIB and within the ACIB of the East Sussex and Brighton and Hove Local Nature Recovery Strategy, with the Local Wildlife Site to the west and the Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) and Special Protection Area (SPA) to the south. There are mapped measures for nature networks within and adjacent to the site. Existing areas of vegetative shingle habitat should be protected with opportunities explored for enhancement using appropriate native species of local provenance.

There is tidal and fluvial flood risk (Zone 3) with a high groundwater table on the site and so a Flood Risk Assessment taking into account all potential sources of flooding will be required, and mitigation as advised by the report, should be incorporated into any potential scheme and maintained for its lifetime. Improvements to the seawall will be required. Safe access and exit for all residents must be provided.

Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) for the site may need to be highly bespoke and should ensure that any potential for contamination of sensitive receptors both within and surrounding the site arising from recreational, residential and highway use arising from development is mitigated appropriately.

The eastern part of the site contains filled land and there have been previous commercial uses elsewhere on the site. Proposals will be expected to provide an assessment of ground conditions and potential contamination.

Southern Water have a number of underground assets within the site, including tanks and pumping facilities. Easements to allow the maintenance of assets will need to be provided and maintained. Consultation with Southern Water is recommended at an early stage to inform any proposed scheme.

Local sewerage infrastructure in closest proximity has limited capacity to accommodate the proposed development. Proposals for development at this location may therefore generate a need for reinforcement of the wastewater network should more detailed modelling show that additional capacity is needed. Proposals should demonstrate engagement with Southern Water at the earliest possible point to understand reinforcement needs, and any reinforcement must be completed prior to connection. This means that development cannot be occupied until it is demonstrated that reinforcement is fully completed.

The site, given its size and location, will be expected to support a varied housing mix including affordable housing.

The Council will expect to see a high-quality innovative design with particular regard to sustainability. The Grosvenor Gardens Conservation Area sits immediately to the east of this site. Any new development must sustain and enhance the setting of the conservation area.

The location, scale and massing of housing units should have regard to the outlook of adjacent properties in Seaside Road and Grosvenor Gardens. Opportunities should be taken where possible to exploit the sea views that the site offers.

What a planning application here would have to do

The policy's conditions, in its own words:

  1. Provide affordable housing requirement in line with Policy SP2.
  2. Include leisure, recreation and/or commercial uses that are sensitive to and compatible with the seafront location.
  3. Explore opportunities for co-ordinating development with the Cinque Ports Way site (HS11), or allowances made, including any road and junction improvements.
  4. Include walking and cycling links to ensure local connectivity, including to local community infrastructure, green spaces and public transport provision, taking into account site topography. This could include:
  5. Strengthening the link to West St Leonards Station and the cycle route and public right of way at the south of the site
  6. Accessible pedestrian routes to the A259 bus corridor, incorporating high quality bus passenger waiting facilities; iii. Ensuring vehicular assess to the site does not conflict with the cycleway/promenade to the south of the site
  7. A transport assessment and a travel plan, with particular consideration of the potential impact on the A259 corridor.
  8. Ensure that the overall design responds to underground constraints, including Southern Water’s underground infrastructure in the design of the layout of the site. Easements would be required, which may affect the site layout or require diversion, and these should be clear of all proposed buildings and tree planting.
  9. Ensure that any necessary reinforcement of the sewerage system is in place to accommodate the quantum and type of proposed development prior to connection, and that such reinforcement is agreed with Southern Water. This will be secured by condition.
  10. Avoid unacceptable harm to the significance and setting of the Grosvenor Gardens Conservation Area. h. Be supported by an Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) and include an Ecological Constraints and Opportunities Plan (ECOP) and incorporate appropriate conservation and mitigation measures as recommended by the EcIA. The ECOP must make specific reference to the close proximity to the APIB, including the nearby Local Wildlife Site and Marine Conservation Zone/Special Protection Area to the south, and to other nearby areas of wildlife sensitivity.
  11. Minimise harm to vegetative shingle habitat and enhance where possible using appropriate native species.
  12. Provide a public realm and promenade that is attractive and inviting to residents and tourists that should also act as a way of protecting views along the seafront. Pedestrian access to the beach should be enhanced, particularly to the west of the site near the existing access at Cinque Ports Way.
  13. Provide new public open space land above the underground tank in the north of the site with informal opportunities for ‘play’ integrated into the design of the site and retaining or relocating the existing play space.
  14. Include a Flood Risk Assessment (FRA) and drainage strategy taking into account all sources of flooding, potential for contamination and ground conditions and be informed by appropriate hydrological monitoring. This should include improvements to the sea wall and contributions to ongoing maintenance in light of tidal and fluvial flood risk (Zone 3) which should be secured by legal agreement. Proposed improvements to sea defences should also take account of their impact upon Impact Risk Zones for Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SPA marine area and the Beachy Head East MCZ and mitigate any harms caused.
  15. The FRA must demonstrate that the proposal will be safe from flooding for its intended lifetime taking into account climate change and residual risk, taking into account sensitive receptors downstream and how the layout and mitigation measures will support this while also ensuring that flood risk is not increased elsewhere. The site's drainage strategy must be supported by a maintenance and management plan to ensure it will be managed for the lifetime of the development. This plan must be presented as a standalone document. Where any new, retained or improved flood mitigation or adaptation measures are included within the development an additional standalone maintenance and management plan must be produced.
  16. Incorporate a creative design response to integrating the electricity substation.
  17. Provide a connection to the sewerage system at the nearest point of adequate capacity, as advised by Southern Water and ensure future access to the existing sewerage and water supply infrastructure for maintenance and upsizing purposes.

What people said in the spring

In the spring 2026 consultation on the draft plan (called Regulation 18), 37 comments were made on this site: 16 objections, 3 in support and 18 other comments.

The issues people raised, as the council's report sums them up:

What the council did in response: Policy HS2 amended.

How to comment

The council hasn't opened the six weeks for comments yet, as far as we can see. When it does, the dates and how to respond will be on our Local Plan page and on the council's own ↗.

At this stage a comment is about whether the plan is legally compliant and sound. What that means.

Other council papers that mention it

Read from the plan ↗ and the spring consultation report ↗ with fixed rules; no language model is involved. The plan's own text is what counts.