New affordable homes development is unveiled

15th October 2019

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The first development of new council properties completed through Aspiration Homes has been unveiled in Northbourne Road.

Aspiration Homes is a partnership between Eastbourne Borough Council and Lewes District Council, and the properties will be known as ‘The Addison’ to mark 100 years since Dr Christopher Addison introduced social housing.

Following the end of the first world war, housing was a priority in the UK. The government and then minister of health, Dr Addison, stepped in to create The Housing and Town Planning Act of 1919, known to many as The Addison Act.

Aspiration Homes has built 12 one and two-bedroom affordable homes following the demolition of four council properties on the site which had been blighted by subsidence. The scheme provides much-needed accommodation at affordable rents for local residents.

Councillor Alan Shuttleworth, Cabinet Member for Direct Assistant Services, said: “It is fantastic to see the realisation of our joint vision with Lewes to increase the supply of affordable homes, starting with these 12 new homes.

“This partnership enables the delivery of high-quality homes for those who need them most, from young people to older people, families and those with disabled access housing needs.”

By coincidence, the great, great niece of Dr Addison, Christine Matthews, works for Eastbourne and Lewes councils as a caseworker and was invited to officially open the new homes named after him.

The ambition is to deliver 215 new homes through Aspiration Homes across Eastbourne and Lewes by 2021/22.

'Innovative' sewage scheme could power Sovereign Centre

Councillors have approved feasibility work for a low-carbon scheme to heat the Sovereign Leisure Centre by extracting energy from the local sewer system.

The proposal is for a standalone energy centre on the seafront site to meet the centre’s heat requirements and help achieve the council’s vision to deliver a carbon neutral town by 2030.

Councillor Jonathan Dow, Cabinet Member for the Environment, said: “This highly innovative scheme provides the opportunity to take a significant step towards reducing the town’s carbon footprint, which is a key facet of council projects and services.

“The energy centre would be built to cope with extra demand in the future and could be developed to provide heat for other types of development, giving the scheme flexibility and the potential for significantly reduced running costs.”

The system would comprise two heat pumps which together will be able to meet the varying demands of the leisure centre. The proposal would be to obtain heat by taking the liquid sewage from the nearby underground main sewer and passing it over a heat exchanger which extracts this heat and transfers it to where it is needed. Following Cabinet's approval, feasibility and design work will now be carried out.

The feasibility work will be delivered through Clear Sustainable Futures (CSF), a procurement and delivery framework between Eastbourne Borough Council, Lewes District Council, AECOM and Robertson.

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