Observer column 9 July 2025

Hastings residents generally agree that the town centre is desperately in need of a major overhaul and spruce-up, so it’s no surprise that interest has been strong in the revised plans for the Town Deal-funded public realm improvements, on display at the recent Open Day in Priory Meadow.

These will give us a much greener town centre, with a series of pocket parks running from Robertson Street to Wellington Place, as well as a new pocket park replacing the former toilet block on Harold Road, currently hoarded off.

Segregated cycle routes on Harold Place and Robertson Street will increase the focus on active travel, a key objective of the project. Designs for easily maintained public spaces as well as improved plantings to green the town centre were unveiled, along with ideas for sensory play areas and planting. The plans are in response to the extensive feedback given last year during the public consultation, and were well received by the many people that came through Priory Meadow despite the heat. The two-way bus and taxi route on Havelock Road and Harold Place remain, but with reduced carriageway width to expand space for people. I will also be working to ensure that the final designs remove cars, delivery vans and bikes from Wellington Place until well into the evening so that this space can go back to being the pedestrian space it used to be. If you missed the Open Day, the plans are on view in the window of Muriel Matters House, and on the Town Deal blog.

Also on show was a model and drawings by Troika Projects of their proposal for a new visitor centre for Hastings Castle along with a revitalised West Hill Café and restaurant offering. The team have been busy over the past six months holding many consultation events and hearing people’s hopes and concerns for the site. You can follow progress by signing up to their newsletter.

Subject to planning, a pop-up kiosk should be up on the West Hill later this summer, finally bringing back a much-missed venue for food and drink. The kiosk will also offer more opportunities for informal feedback as designs progress. A full transport study is being prepared to address residents’ concerns about increased traffic. Currently as many as 100,000 people use the West Hill lift every year. The aim is to encourage more of these people to also visit the castle, with a goal of 40,000 visitors in the first year of operation.

More conversations will be happening this summer about how to tell the stories of the site in imaginative and compelling ways that encourage repeat visits. Planning and ancient monument permission will be submitted this autumn and, after final feedback, building should start in summer 2026, to be completed in early 2028. We will also start work on an Expression of Interest to the Heritage Lottery Fund to help us achieve the wider ambition of making the castle site more accessible.