An NHS trust has resubmitted plans to open a new ambulance post in Bexhill.
In a planning application submitted to Rother District Council, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) is seeking permission to create a new community response post at an industrial estate in Beeching Close.
According to the application, the proposals come as part of the trust’s wider ‘Make Ready Strategy’, a programme intended to restructure where ambulances wait for call-outs.
In this case, ambulance crews would begin their shifts at a Make Ready Centre in Hastings – where maintenance and deep cleaning of the vehicles would take place – before making their way to the community response post, where they would wait for call outs.
In the application, a SECAmb spokesman said: “The proposed development provides an opportunity to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the ambulance emergency service as part of the rolling out of the Make Ready Strategy.
“The proposal will improve the health and social conditions of the area and it is in overall accordance with the development plan policies.”
The application is similar to proposals which were granted planning permission in 2018, which has since lapsed.
There are some notable differences between the two schemes, however. For example, the 2018 scheme said the facility would be used by two ambulance crews, while the 2024 application says there is ‘a high probability of a single crew occupying’ the building.
The trust currently has another community response post in Beeching Road — less than 200 metres from the proposed new facility. It is unclear from the application what the proposals will mean for the existing facility.
For further information on the proposals see application reference RR/2024/928/P on the Rother District Council website.
