Latest News

For info on Site 1 plans click here.. 

For info on Site 7a plans click here.. 

For info on Martello Tower plans click here.. 

19 May - Site 1 Design Amendment - Untold Living has submitted a planning application to increase the size of the top-floor apartment of their proposed retirement complex building on Site 1. The change is illustrated in this linked design document  , and the increase is shown in pink in this image.... Although a relatively minor change, it will alter and increase the building’s top floor outline. Comments may be made by 5th June on EBC's planning portal by clicking the following link:
https://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/article/2087/?RefType=APPPlanCase&KeyText=250302 

17 May - The Harbour WI - The Harbour WI has published its latest newsletter, which contains a report of its May meeting. Find it on The Harbour WI webpages here... www.shra.co.uk/wi/newsletter

16 May - SHRA AGM Reminder - The 2025 SHRA Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held at the Sovereign Harbour Community Centre this coming Wednesday, 21 May 2025, commencing at 6pm for tea/coffee followed at 7pm by the meeting. The AGM is for SHRA members only. The AGM’s guest speakers are Michael Newton-Smith of Eastbourne U10 Fishermans CIC, and Josh Babarinde OBE MP.  Please click here for the AGM agenda and annual report... If you are attending the AGM, please print these documents and bring them with you or bring them on your mobile device.

09 May—Odour Issues at Langney Point Wastewater Treatment Works—When SHRA members complained about the unpleasant smells coming from Southern Water's wastewater treatment works, we contacted the office of MP Josh Babarinde, as we knew he was aware of the issue.

In response, Josh's office told us that Josh had raised the issue with Southern Water (SW) in August 2024, soon after being elected. At the time, SW replied, “We are currently experiencing some issues with the air scrubber system on-site. We are working hard to fix these issues as quickly and safely as possible.” Click here for SW's 2024 letter in full...

Josh's office went on to say that, "Little has changed since then—if anything, the situation has worsened.  As a result, Josh wrote to Southern Water again in early April 2025 to demand swift answers and meaningful action." Click here to read Josh's 2025 letter to SW...

"Josh also raised the issue in person with senior Southern Water officers at a recent meeting. They confirmed that a full investigation is now underway.  We’re very aware that the smell tends to get worse during the summer months, so we’re pushing hard to get this resolved ASAP."

Complaints about the smell should be made to Southern Water via their website www.southernwater.co.uk/report-a-problem or their Customer Service telephone number: 0330 303 0368. You may wish to let the MP's office know as well. Email: josh.babarinde.mp@parliament.uk
Telephone: 01323 733030

08 May - Barrier Reef Way - UK Power Networks have confirmed that they will be digging up the road and pavement in Barrier Reef Way 19th -23rd May to bring an electrical power supply to Aldi from the substation located on the green space on Barrier Reef Way. Unfortunately, Pacific Drive must be dug up again to connect to the supermarket site. Click here for a map of the cable route... Access for residents will be maintained; however, it will sometimes be under some form of manual Traffic Management control within the closure. Road plates will be used, and the on-site teams will liaise with the residents as necessary.

03 May - No SHRA Discount at Rustico - A member has informed us that, for the moment, Rustico, the new owners of Simply Italian at The Waterfront, do not offer the discount to SHRA members that Simply Italian did.

28 April - Site 1 Key Construction Dates - According to the Construction Plan available on the EBC planning portal, the key dates for the construction of the retirement living complex on Site 1 are:
• Start on site with enabling works  - 10/11/25
• Substructure - 24/11/25 to 15/6/26
• Superstructure - 10/4/26 to 8/1/27
• Envelope -15/6/26 to 2/7/27
• Internal fit out - 18/11/26 to 19/11/27
• External works - 13/10/25 to - 17/12/27
Total duration - 118 weeks of construction.
[All are subject to revision]
WORKING HOURS/ RESTRICTIONS
Under the planning conditions, the permissible site working hours are:
• Monday to Friday: 8am - 6.00pm
• Saturday: 8am - 1.00pm
• Sundays and Bank Holidays: No working.

22 April - Discover the Joy of Sailing - Would you like to sail but are not sure what to expect?  Then join one of our FREE introductory shore-based sessions before sailing on our Club yacht “Jebbs” (see the "Sailing for All" item below).  These shore-based sessions are for both members and non-members of our Club and are designed to give you basic information about what to expect when you first set sail on “Jebbs”.  Click here for a poster giving more details...   

22 April - Sailing For All - Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club now have their own sailing yacht, a Bavaria 34 called “Jebbs”. The yacht is available not just for club members to use but to all within the local community and was partly funded by a grant from Sport England.

Many people do not have the opportunity to sail for various reasons so SHYC set about making it possible by acquiring a yacht that people could sail on at an affordable cost.

Contact us to find out more or book a session. We can take 4 people out at a time so why not try and put together a group of 4 and we will try to arrange a date and time to suit you.

More details of our Club yacht can be found in the handbook on our dedicated webpage at: www.shyc.co.uk/shyc-club-boat-yacht or you can contact us at clubyacht@shyc.co.uk if you are interested and we will get back to you.

17 April - Site 7 - McCarthy Stone dates and community engagement - Update from Tom Lewis, the Development Manager.

Key dates:
1. Preliminary foundation work commences Thursday 17th April.

2. The piling rig is booked to commence next Tuesday (22 April) and last approximately five weeks. As they are using different kinds of piles (SFA), they expect the noise levels to be noticeably less than those for the piling work for the adjacent sites.

3. The drainage connections and associated two-way temporary traffic lights are scheduled to start on 6th May for 10 days near the existing site entrance. They say that they have amended their drainage connection works, taking LNT’s experience into consideration.

4. The crane erection is pencilled in for w/c 23rd of June.

5. A community engagement meeting with local residents, SHRA, and Councillors is likely towards the end of April. The venue, time, and date are to be confirmed soon.

14 April - The 2025 SHRA Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held at the Sovereign Harbour Community Centre, Easter Island Place, BN23 6JH on Wednesday 21 May 2025, commencing at 6pm for tea/coffee followed at 7pm by the meeting.  The AGM is for SHRA members only.

As well as finding out about the Committee’s activities since the last AGM, adopting the Financial Accounts and minutes from 2024 and electing SHRA Committee members, there will also be an opportunity to put questions to Josh Babarinde OBE, our MP (subject to parliamentary duties allowing him to attend).

The AGM Agenda and SHRA's Annual Report and Accounts for 2025 will be circulated nearer the time.  If you have questions for the Committee and/or Josh Babarinde OBE please e-mail them in advance to info@shra.co.uk

If you would like to become a Committee member please make your nomination by e mail to info@shra.co.uk. Nominations will be accepted up to one week prior to the date of the AGM.

03 April - New Edition Waterlines - The April edition of SHRA's newsletter, Waterlines, has been published . Find it on our "Waterlines" page...

29 March - MP's update on the Pacific Drive Traffic Problems -  On Friday, our MP, Josh Babarinde OBE, added the following update about the disruptions caused by the temporary traffic lights to his Facebook page...

"𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲. Since yesterday [Thursday 27 March], I’ve been in comms with East Sussex County Council and Hutchinson Environmental Solutions to get to the bottom of the dreadful disruption caused by the roadworks at Pacific Drive - and to push for action on it.  I’ve been liaising with Karl Taylor (Assistant Director Operations at ESCC) and Peter Stedman (Operations Director with Hutchinson). Here’s what I’ve got from them:

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝘆? I’m told that the works are to connect the Castle View Court park homes site on Eastbourne Road to the main sewer. I’m also told that, currently, effluent from the park homes is collected in a big tank and then emptied because it’s not fully connected up sewage-wise.  This requires some drilling to be done but there’s a high-pressure gas main involved that needs to be protected, so this makes the process more invasive.  As a result, temporary lights were set up as part of a ‘traffic management plan’ agreed between ESCC, Hutchinson and their traffic management sub-contractor. As far as I’m concerned, this traffic management plan has failed - the traffic tailbacks and the impact they’re having on people are unacceptable.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲? The Operations Director at Hutchinson has confirmed to me that the temporary lights will be removed tonight [Friday] and removed for this weekend.  I’m also told that the roadworks are set to continue next week as early as Monday - and they expect them to go on until 14th April (although ESCC has granted them a permit until 27th April).

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁? These delays cannot continue. Yesterday, I pushed East Sussex Highways to intervene as the Highways Authority covering our town. They said they’d send over a Network Inspector to monitor the works but I’m not satisfied with this - they need to properly put their foot down to solve this issue.  I’ve therefore written to ESCC’s CEO today to urge them to review the ’traffic management plan’ without delay because it is not working and it’s letting our community down. ESCC and Hutchinson must urgently implement mitigations to reduce the disruption taking place while their works are underway.  I’ll keep you updated on the response." 
Josh Babarinde 
www.josh.org.uk

25 February - Future Updates on Beach Management - As you probably know, PCDL's contract ends on 31 May this year, with beach management returning to the Environment Agency (EA). The EA are keen that experience gained over the last 25 years is carried forward into the next project, the Short-term (Interim) Project starting in June 2025.

The new Beach Manager will be Paul Levitt, who will continue to provide regular updates to residents in the same way PCDL has done. However, due to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) we are unable to transfer your contact details to the EA. So, if you wish to continue receiving updates, you must advise the Agency yourself.

To understand how the communications from Paul could work best, the EA have created a short survey where you can submit your communication preferences and register your contact details to receive future updates about Pevensey Beach Management activities. The survey is available on their website www.pevenseyandeastbournecoast.co.uk (scroll down) or click here to access the survey directly.
Amber Carr
Project Manager
Pevensey Coastal Defence Ltd

Over time, some news items may migrate to the News Archive page or another relevant page of the SHRA website.