Please reconsider demolition of historic Eastbourne building

The demolition of the old T J Hughes needs to be reconsidered.

The proposed new development neither complements nor lives in sympathy with Eastbourne’s main street.

The Harris Design and Access report states: “The elevational design takes on board the narrative the design team established early on from the existing department store.”

How is the “narrative” of the old T J Hughes frontage and Terminus Road preserved with massive rectangular structures?

The proposed building’s front corner is no longer rounded. Instead, it has become a gap between two large stone columns.

So much for maintaining the “a strong feature corner”.

A report by Planning Heritage, a Bath consultancy, writes off the T J Hughes building and this is reflected in the Design and Access Statement where they agree that the existing building has “no features of significant architectural or historic significance”.

We will instead get a large block dominating the area, setting a precedent.

What will happen to the old Debenhams building if we open the floodgates? We need to think again about this development before the face of central Eastbourne is changed forever.