The Last Seafront Site in St. Leonard's and Hastings.

I was asked to research and write an article for the West Marina Group, who are very concerned about the future facing the Bathing Pool Site in St Leonards-on-Sea, which once housed the largest Lido in the country. It fell into disuse in the 1980s, was demolished ten years later. Now Hastings Borough Council want to lease this  site to a developer for medium-rise flats. The council's motivation has been questioned, as has the need for new housing in the area. The group believe the site should be put to more imaginative use than expensive flats for Londoners and Airbnb's for profit. My article examines the need for local housing.  

The spectacularly huge Bathing Pool was designed in the 1930's as an Olympic venue by talented Hastings Borough engineer Sidney Little. The Olympics never came. The pool was very popular with visitors and locals, but by 1986 was closed due to running costs and it was finally demolished in May 1993, sixty years after its first opening. Had it been an 'Art Deco Masterpiece', like the beautiful Lidos at Saltdean near Brighton or Penzance, Cornwall, it might have been saved for posterity. However it was merely much loved and popular.   (photograph by Aerofilms) 

                              

The Bathing Pool Site earlier in 2019, before the notice
designating it as a 'greenspace' had  somehow vanished
into thin air.  It has since been put back. (photo West Marina Group)

The Article -

"The West Marina Group in St Leonards are seriously concerned about the future of the Bathing Pool Site. We want a visionary future for this last seafront site and we know the proposed development of high-density housing is wrong for this location.

"The question has been asked, is there a need for up to 150 flats here anyway?  Seaside flats could sell to locals but are more likely to sell as holiday homes or become open to abuse as Airbnb’s.

"Part of the answer to that question is that Hastings Borough Council has a statutory duty to ensure a number of new homes are built within a limited period. The Council can’t build these homes themselves.  Successive governments have stripped local councils of funding for housing, leaving them with often unaffordable duties.

"There may be more ‘habitable rooms’ in England than there are people, but we don’t know.  The most recently published English Housing Survey (2017) doesn’t tell us the number of rooms per home, just floor area. In theory we could show that there’s no need to build more homes, just fill all the existing ones.  Practise is another thing.  54% of owner-occupied homes are said to be ‘under-occupied’ as they have spare bedrooms. Less than 15% of rented homes are ‘under-occupied’. However homeowners can’t be forced to take in lodgers if they don’t want to.  We have small families living in large houses, larger families living in small flats and people living in shelters beside the beach.  This inequality is reflected across the country. Yes there are empty homes, but many are in places where people don’t want or don’t need to live.

"People need to live near their jobs, their schools, their families and support networks.  A run-down terrace in Newcastle-under-Lyme that was built 150 years ago, to house hatters (an industry which no longer exists) wouldn’t be suitable for a working family in St. Leonards.  Neither would it be suitable for the homeless on the seafront, unless they have links to Newcastle-under-Lyme.

"The National Audit Office reported (5th November 2019), on the starter homes scheme announced by prime minister David Cameron in 2014, intended to create 200,000 homes.  This appeared to be the government’s agreement that new homes are needed, but their timescale was vague. None of these homes have been built.

"Meanwhile, further down the social scale, are people who couldn’t afford to buy a starter home in 2014.  They still can’t.  They live in the rental sector, which doesn’t need to be a bad thing, but for many it’s a constant struggle to keep a decent roof over their heads. There’s a shortage of good quality homes in the private rental sector and an acute shortage in the public sector.  This has led, according to figures for September 2019, to more than 10,000 people in emergency accommodation nationwide. There is nowhere else for them to go.

"This doesn’t even take account of people who are on the streets.  In Hastings Borough the official figures for rough sleepers is rising each year. This is despite Hastings inclusion in the group of local authorities receiving additional funding under the Rough Sleeping Initiative.

"In February of this year Councillor Andy Batsford said, 'The number of people living in temporary accommodation has increased significantly over the past year.  There are currently around 123 households living in temporary accommodation in Hastings.' This figure has now risen to 150. All these people need housing, but not in seaside flats in an area where the sea-defences are substandard. Any development which ignores potential rising sea-levels and storm frequency is foolhardy and ultimately a waste of money.

"The real need in St. Leonards is for decent rental homes for the disadvantaged and affordable housing for local families. Large empty dwellings such as those on West Hill Road could be converted to flats, though there is limited stock of these older buildings. Conversion can be expensive because of the need to apply current standards to these projects.

"The proposed Bulverhythe development, although controversial, could provide more of the housing that HBC needs than The Bathing Pool Site.  The Archery Road development is proceeding with less density than proposed for the Bathing Pool site.  But is this type of development, with only a small amount of social housing beside larger, expensive homes, the best use of either space?  There are 1666 people on the Council’s housing waiting list.

"Other vacant plots in the area with potential for house building include West Hill Road and Caves Road. These sites offer their own challenges, but few risks can be greater than the risk of flooding at the Bathing Pool Site.

"More homes are needed nationwide. According to Zoopla, the demand for homes both to buy and to rent is rising, while the existing housing stock still has more pre-1960’s buildings than newer ones.  Zoopla reckons that 240,000 to 340,000 new homes need to be created each year to keep pace with demand.

"Hastings BC’s Homelessness Strategy says, “…it is imperative that the Council works with partners to seek innovative solutions to address housing need.” Leasing public land to a private developer for expensive flats on our last beachfront site is not ‘innovative’.  This land belongs to the people and we have not been consulted.  

"The council also express a desire for the West Marina area to become a ‘destination’ to attract visitors. Blocks of flats will not help create an attractive destination, they will just add to parking and infrastructure problems.                                                                                                                                                         

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Susan Gilbert, for West Marina.