The Borough Council has agreed the sale of Wartling Road Coach and Lorry Park and it will bring over £13million worth of benefits to the town. Completion on the sale is programmed to take place in January 2007 and the agreed price, subject to completion, is £4.5million.
Wimpey has bought the Wartling Road site and will be building new houses and flats on the land. 30% of these will be sold at a substantially discounted rate to a social landlord to help bridge the affordable housing gap in the town. These would normally cost the Council over £7million to provide. The developer will also be providing a purpose built community centre and a play space on the site as well as enhanced landscaping to the nearby Lottbridge Drove.
The outline planning consent expires in August 2007, so Wimpey can be expected to submit the detail plans for the site over the coming months. Meanwhile the Council will continue to occupy the site until early in the new year while it constructs an extension to the Eastbourne Buses depot in Birch Road to provide enhanced facilities for the displaced coaches.
The sale will provide valuable resources that will be invested in capital projects to enhance facilities throughout the town including leisure and recreational provisions. Those projects will be discussed as part of the budget setting process for next year.
Cllr Elkin said "The Council is delighted to be able to bring this underused and prominent site to the market. It will bring significant benefits to the area, as well as improve one of the main approach roads that tourists use to access our seafront."
