Wealden District Council has unveiled ambitious plans to revitalise Hailsham town centre with a fresh mix of retail, leisure and nightlife opportunities and provide new homes for younger people.
This is a once in a generation opportunity to redevelop and regenerate Hailsham. Wealden District Council bought the Vicarage Field shopping centre as part of a long term plan to regenerate the town.
By including all of its landholdings in this project, the Council owns a large portion of this 18 acre site in the heart of the town. By joining together with other landowners, including Hailsham Town Council, it can help shape the destiny on the town.
The plans would see new a new development across both the Vicarage Field shopping area, which the Council purchased in 2017 for £12.35m, and also the land on the other side of Vicarage Lane, which currently include the Council Offices, the Leisure Centre and the car park.
The site redevelopment will include modern apartments and town houses to make Hailsham a place where people want to live as well as visit. It will also capitalise on the success of the Council’s own Vicarage Lane offices in providing office and public access to other public services and volunteer groups, putting support at the heart of the community.
By consolidating the existing car parking spaces into a new multi-storey car park, the project can make much better use of the land to reconfigure the existing shopping centre. This will provide new retail outlets and restaurants drawing in people from the high street. It will take advantage of the gradient on the site to blend the car park in with the existing townscape while opening new vistas across the centre of Hailsham.
The Council is also proposing to reconfigure and re-provide the existing Leisure Centre, Charles Hunt Centre and Hailsham Club. This will help enhance existing leisure and social activities which will be essential for a vibrant town centre at a time when traditional retail faces fierce competition from the internet.
A council spokesperson said; “So far we have only had a first look at what the future may hold. We now want to explore this further with the people of Hailsham and the District as well as other organisations and possible business partners.”
“It will be a big project. We are possibly looking at a £100 million scheme taking five years to complete. So we want to be sure the mix of retail, leisure, office and residential space we propose will enable the town to evolve and adapt to what people want today…and in the years to come. It is also important that the overall costs of the improvements are able to pay for themselves.”
The Council is looking to apply to the Government’s Future High Street Fund for funding support with the exploratory stages. Last month the Government announced it was make £675 million available to support the transformation of Britain’s high streets to enable wider economic growth
A key part of any final proposal will be a green energy strategy. This will use Combined Heat and Power technology to provide electricity and heating for site occupants and a series of Electric Vehicle charging outlets.
