Part of plans to regenerate Hastings town centre have been ‘paused’ to allow further discussions on design.
On Monday (July 15), Cllr Claire Dowling, East Sussex County Council’s lead member for transport and environment, considered a report on the results of a recent consultation on the Hastings Town Centre Public Realm and Green Connections project — a Towns Fund-backed regeneration scheme.
As part of the meeting, Cllr Dowling had been asked to approve a change in the scheme’s broad design, reworking the plans to avoid rerouting buses away from Havelock Road and Harold Place.
In its initial concept design, the project involved the pedestrianisation of Harold Place, closing up its junction with the A259. One potential option to achieve this was to make the Havelock Road into a one-way bus route connected to a currently pedestrianised portion of Queens Road (just in front of the Odeon Cinema).
The potential rerouting of these bus routes saw more opposition than support from the 972 people who responded to the public consultation.
As a result, officers had recommended the project take on an amended design. This change, described as option 2 by council officers, would see Havelock Road and Harold Place remain open to buses in both directions, but closed off to other traffic.
While Cllr Dowling had been advised to approve this change, the proposal saw opposition from Hastings county councillor Julia Hilton (also leader of Hastings Borough Council).
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Hilton (Green) said: “The public consultation results do not indicate that people want a two-way road space retained on Havelock Road. It is not even that conclusive they do not want the more radical rerouting down Queens Road to make Harold Place pedestrian.”
In making this arguement, Cllr Hilton pointed out how most people (37 per cent) who responded to consultation replied “did not know” when asked about the bus rerouting plans.
Cllr Hilton went on to say she had received an indication from Helena Dollimore, the town’s newly-elected Labour MP, that it was ‘highly likely’ the government’s previous deadlines for town deal funding would be ‘eased’.
This was significant as the Towns Deal delivery deadline for the project is currently March 2026, meaning any design changes needed to be agreed quickly.
Cllr Hilton told Cllr Dowling the potential change in deadline made an “even stronger case for delaying your decision today to allow the necessary wider discussions and a proper co-design process to be undertaken”.
Cllr Hilton also highlighted how other projects to improve the town centre were expected to come forward in the not too distant future. She argued these projects — including potential improvement works by Southern Water and work with Homes England — should be factored into the regeneration scheme’s design.
Cllr Hilton said: “My plea is we ideally say ‘pause’ and try and integrate the wider schemes or go for a phased development that leaves Havelock Road as the last possible bit, while still going ahead with the key Wellington Place [improvements], which is the area I know local residents are the most concerned about.”
The potential for Cllr Dowling to defer her decision saw a warning from James Harris, the council’s assistant director for economy. He said: “The request is perfectly reasonable … but if you are looking for certainty on all of these things … then there are a whole load of other work areas there which will simply move this scheme further and further down the line.
“I understand the desire to have more time to work through options. That is perfectly reasonable. However, I suspect those differences of opinion will still remain at the end of the process.”
He added: “There are plenty of examples, unfortunately, of past schemes that everybody has got into with the right intentions that have got to a stage where they are undeliverable.”
He also argued in favour of option 2, describing it as a “sustainable transport corridor” which would improve on the current state of the road.
Ultimately, Cllr Dowling opted to defer her decision, urging officers to enter into ‘quick’ discussions with Hastings Borough Council on the design of the scheme.
She said: “I understand the reasons behind the original scheme, I really do [and] I understand when you start to put these things [into action] the process is long and the reality isn’t what you expected to see on the ground.
“However, I came away from [visiting] Hastings with several concerns … about the proposals, especially the recommended option two. I was concerned we were going away from the original concept.”
Cllr Dowling went on to say how she had also received a significant amount of correspondence about the project from the Hastings business community. She said they had also highlighted the other projects in the town centre and it had made her question whether the scheme should be looked at in a wider context.
She added: “I am very aware that the money we have got is time-limited … [but] I am going to defer this. I cannot recommend the options as they stand at present. I wish officers to go back and have discussions with Hastings Borough Council.
“We are on a tight deadline. Yes, I know Cllr Hilton, through unofficial talks, believes it may [be extended] but we can only deal with what we have got. I do not want money to be lost from Hastings; that is my main concern. So these are going to be very quick discussions; extremely quick.”
