Hastings Marina

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Geoff
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Hastings Marina

Postby Geoff » Sat Sep 02, 2017 8:14 pm

Hastings Borough Council has started talking to partners about the possibility of developing the harbour, including additional housing and transport improvements to the Hastings Old Town.

Hastings Harbour Quarter Ltd is a company specially formed for the purpose. Run by developers and architects who have already carried out a number of large projects around the country.

Proposals include a new marina providing moorings, boat storage facilities and support services, around 1000 – 1300 new homes, a protected launching and landing site for the fishing fleet, and transport improvements to the area.

The construction alone is worth around £500m.

Opinions on the proposal please.

hastings-marina.png

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Richard
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Re: Hastings Marina

Postby Richard » Mon Sep 04, 2017 5:38 pm

I'd start with the warning that Hastings is littered with failed projects such as the Observer building and the new University College (Brighton extension).
I assume both failed because the College is not immediately successful.
The proposed Harbour plan could work because it is big enough for the developers to make a profit, smaller projects do not make it worth their while.
For example there are plenty of places where a few houses could be built but prices are low (ish) in Hastings and developers like larger-scale projects, such as this one.
I think it sounds a little like Sovereign Harbour on the fringes of Eastbourne but with capacity to shelter fishing fleet and private boats/yachts.
Why not if the developers want to take the risk and it brings in more business?

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seahermit
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Re: Hastings Marina

Postby seahermit » Tue Sep 05, 2017 6:54 pm

An item about this was posted recently on Facebook, possibly by Peter Chowney the Council Leader. There was a great deal of reaction, most of it very critical and passionately against. Yes, there is a great need for imaginative projects to revitalise the area, but this particular scheme appears to be very misconceived and poorly thought out. The Old Town is already popular with and oversubscribed by visitors - as a result there is a chronic parking problem, there is absolutely not space to build over 1000 new homes, it would in any case be expensive and problematic to attempt that in an area where the cliffs are unstable and liable to frequent subsidence. Extensive new development would also change the old, historic character of the Old Town - which is precisely what visitors flock there to experience.

For new homes, there are countless empty buildings all over Hastings, it seems almost in every street - some of them have stood empty ever since I came here in 2000. For a marina, which I have always regarded as an excellent idea, there is a great deal of space in West St Leonards on the old bathing pool site (with the railway close by and the possibility of re-opening the old station on the Bexhill Road side)and that run-down part of town really does need investment. The problem I gather is that the land is contaminated - but it only needs the right amount of money to be spent and it hardly seems possible that the cost would exceed that of a massive new development in the Stade area.

There have been a number of ... I have to say it, "crackpot" schemes put forward by the Council in the last few years! Remember the Giant Slug on the Stade (trendy curved concrete structure designed by some architect who must surely have been on a "trip")? And the multi-storey hotel proposed for Pelham beach (where the car-park currently stands? Thankfully there are some sane people in Hastings still, who ensured that these wildly inappropriate ideas never got off the drawing board.

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Geoff
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Re: Hastings Marina

Postby Geoff » Tue Sep 05, 2017 7:06 pm

I totally agree. If we need a marina then St Leonards is the perfect place for it. Do you know what this contamination is? I understand there are large water tanks under the old bathing pool site but not heard of it being contaminated. This maybe explains why nobody has built there before.

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Richard
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Re: Hastings Marina

Postby Richard » Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:40 pm

The thought of the old bathing pool area being developed as a Marina flashed across my mind as well but, according to the council:

"There is an underground tank in the northern part of the site opposite Seaside Way. This cannot be built over and must remain as open land. The eastern part of the site contains filled land and there have been previous commercial uses elsewhere on the site. Developers will be expected to provide an assessment of ground conditions and potential contamination. There is a playground on the site that must be retained or sympathetically relocated. The capacity potential of this site indicates that a Transport Assessment and Travel Plan will be required. Vehicular access is available to Cinque Ports Way, Seaside Road and Grosvenor Gardens"
"Approximately 50% of the site is undevelopable for conventional building development
because of underground constraints or sea defence issues, with the Eastern part being relatively unconstrained, and even here there is a back-filled swimming pool beneath the
surface.
These issues and constraints need to be fully investigated before any land sale or joint venture can be agreed since they may affect the potential financial return on developing the site.
The constraints are numerous and complex. The principal one is the large surface water holding tank in the centre of the site which does not allow any development over it but
does allow open space to be sited above it. It is surrounded by culverts,access vents and chambers in a complicated arrangement which is best left well alone."
:(

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Geoff
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Re: Hastings Marina

Postby Geoff » Fri Sep 08, 2017 11:43 am

Very interesting Richard, thanks for sharing. Now we know ;)

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Richard
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Re: Hastings Marina

Postby Richard » Fri Sep 08, 2017 12:59 pm

But I agree, we could do with something to pep St. Leo's up a bit.
I have to say it's kind of idyllic to be able to walk along the beach there in high summer and with hardly a soul under the sun.
Would a big development spoil all that?
I spoke with a fisherman who said the Marina idea was all pie in the sky anyway - dodgy cliffs which the developers think they can restrain with wire netting and exorbitant costs.
Also they are suspicious that the council was always trying to grab more of the beach areas that belonged to them.


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