Luxury retirement flats plan shelved
By Rebecca Maer
Plans for a six-storey luxury retirement complex on the waterfront at Sovereign Harbour have been shelved in their current format.
The controversial scheme for 126 apartments was approved two years ago by Eastbourne Borough Council on the third attempt after changes were made to the scale of the project following hundreds of objections from residents.
Developer Untold Living has now told residents in an email that significant rises in building costs and the lengthy process of building safety approval were factors in its decision.
Chief executive Scott Orr says the company has withdrawn its application for the initial stage which scrutinises the safety of higher-risk new buildings.
He added Untold Living was assessing the best way to “bring the site forward” and that outline planning permission remained in place.
Mr Orr wrote: “We fully support the principles of the process and have engaged constructively throughout.
“We also invested a great deal of time, effort and money getting to this stage, and we fully intended to build the scheme.
“However, there is no set timeline for approval offered as part of this process, and building costs continue to rise significantly beyond house price inflation while we waited.
“This made it extremely difficult to agree and hold a fixed price with a builder for the works adding significant expense and creating undue uncertainty.
“As a result, the scheme we had planned is no longer viable. This is an outcome we find enormously frustrating, and we are now looking at alternative ways to bring the site forward.
“For clarity, the site retains its outline planning permission despite the changes I have outlined above.”
Mr Orr gave Eastbourne Reporter the following answers to our questions:
Q. How confident are you of eventually obtaining Gateway 2 approval [for higher-risk buildings] for a project in this location next to a shingle beach?
A. We have withdrawn the current scheme from the Gateway 2 process because of the additional complexity, time, uncertainty and cost it caused the development. Any revised proposals for the site would be designed to fall below the 18m Gateway 2 threshold [buildings over 18 metres or seven storeys high which require additional safety measures], so would not require Gateway 2 approval.
Q. Do you have an approximate timescale for drawing up revised plans for the site?
A. We don’t have a timescale to share at this stage as we are still exploring the most viable options for the site. We will update stakeholders and the local community after initially engaging with Eastbourne planning.
The initial plans for the site, next to a Martello tower on the western edge of Sovereign Harbour, were first considered in March 2024. The plans were originally for 137 apartments in seven storeys.
The building was lowered by one storey in plans considered in July 2024 and the number of flats was eventually cut to 126 along with a reduction in the massing of one of the three blocks by the time it was approved by the council’s planning committee in September 2024.
But objectors remained concerned about the scale of the building. The Sovereign Harbour Residents Association (SHRA) had wanted to see a maximum of five storeys in the tallest of the three blocks.
Frances Lawrence, SHRA chair at the time, told the Eastbourne Reporter in September 2024 that their main objections remained that it was overdevelopment due to the scale and that it was the wrong type of housing, with likely expensive purchase prices which might exclude local retirees.
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