New council homes open on former site of Eastbourne town centre school

‘The Glenn’ in Southfields Road will soon welcome new tenants and includes 17 two-bedroom and two one-bedroom properties, with three fully accessible ground floor flats, each with their own garden.

The site is a former council car park that was once home to Eastbourne School for Girls, known in 1935 as The Glen.

Eastbourne Borough Council (EBC) leader Stephen Holt said: “This is an incredibly proud moment for us all.

“It’s quite an achievement for the council to have developed stunning new affordable housing in the centre of the town, at a time when so few councils are building new homes.

“The flats are simply superb and there is no doubt our tenants will be hugely excited about moving in and enjoying town centre life in such high-quality properties.”

The council team has put a travel plan in place that includes a 12-month bus pass, a £100 bicycle voucher to spend against a new bike, and membership to a new car club.

EBC’s cabinet member for housing Peter Diplock added: “The whole project and design team has done [a] tremendous job of building and finishing these fantastic new homes. We are working hard to deliver more of these brownfield site projects, but government need to release funds to get more of them off the ground.”

The councillor said the homes include the council’s first green roof and Solshare system solar panels – which could enable each flat to receive enough energy each day to run all ‘stand-by’ appliances for free.