Planning shapes our environment: where we live, work and play. The new Hastings Local Plan has provided us with an opportunity to improve the way we do things - how we use land, what we build, how our town centres will develop and change, and how planning decisions fit with other policies and strategies.
We need to make sure that the regeneration of our town continues, and that economic growth and prosperity are at the heart of our plan. But we also need to protect the heritage of Hastings, in terms of both historic buildings and open spaces, while ensuring new development is of the highest possible quality, particularly in our town centres and seafront. At first sight, these principles might seem to be at odds. But to maximise the economic opportunities for our town and its residents, we need to make Hastings an attractive and desirable place to visit, live, and do business.
This Development Management Plan delivers the strategic policies and proposals already set out in the Hastings Planning Strategy (2014), and shows clearly how, where and what kind of development should take place. Policies in the plan strengthen our ability to secure genuinely sustainable development, supporting the protection and improvement of our valuable natural and built environment, whilst providing enough land to build the new homes and employment space we need.
So this plan is important: it will affect dramatically how the town changes in the coming years. It will shape the look, feel and prosperity of Hastings not just for us, but for generations to come. The dialogue that we have had with the community up to this point has been very important in shaping this document, and will ensure that the Development Management Plan plays its part in making Hastings Borough the place to live, work and visit.
Councillor Peter Chowney
Leader of the Council